Bangladesh cricket has gone through a rough ride for almost 9 months. The diminishing below par performance of the tigers already raised credibility question of Bangladesh teams quality and depth as ICC full member country. Some unfortunate incidents off the field have also created frustrations and controversies. One of the main stay leading all-rounders Sakibul Hasan is serving suspension term for his attitude issues. Bangladesh is under a complete new set of coaching management. Some other key players were in inconsistent form over the last few international matches played in Bangladesh. 

On the backdrop of above the tigers are getting ready for a very important tour to West Indies. Over a month long tour the team will play 3 ODIs, one T20 and two test matches. West Indies team in the recent past has just standard showing improvement as a playing unit. Playing the resurging Caribbean’s in their own backward will not an easy task for Bangladesh, especially when they will miss a key all-rounder of Sakib’s class. Coach Chandika Haturasinghe has his work cut out. He has to extract the best out of the team. The tigers must show the required fighting skill and be competitive.

The two tests will be played at Kensington Oval Barbados and Gross Islet, St Lucia. First two ODIs will be played at St Georges Park and third at Basseterre, St Kitts. The lone T20 will be played at St Kitts as well. In the recent past West Indian wickets were not the lightning fast and bouncy as these used to be. But considering the weakness of Tiger batsmen against genuine fast bowling and short stuff this writer won’t be surprised if tigers have to confront hostile Fiedel Edwards and Khemar Roach on fast bouncy tracks. We hope the new Sri Lankan coach will prepare batsmen keeping that in mind. 

Meantime BCB has announced a 15 member team for the ODIs. The team is .Mushfiqur Rahim (Captain), Tamim Iqubal, Anamul Huq, Shamsur Rahman, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Huq, Nasir Hussain, Mahmudullah, Mithun Ali, Mashrafee Murtaza, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Sohag Gazi and Al Amin Hossain. We do not think in absence of Shakib any one can raise any genuine controversy over the team selection though Tamim, Nasir and Mahmudullah went through a very lean patch over a long time. Ace spinner Razzak appeared to have lost his guile. Taskin and Mashrafee may not be risked for longer version and may only be played in ODIs and T20. Bangladesh will require their services in the next World Cup in Australia next year and against Zimbabwe at home in the shorter version of the game.

Batting will be big concern as in the recent past Bangladesh batting collapsed too often without any credible excuse. One of major concern is the very unusual form of star opener Tamim and poor form of Nasir. Young Anamul and Mushfique played well but not well enough to carry the team on their shoulder. None of the batsmen were at all consistent. With the return of Edwards and Roach West Indies will be firing in all cylinders. They would test and torment tigers with short bouncy stuff. West Indies may play four fast bowlers Edwards, Roach, Jason Holder, Shanon Gabriel may take acid test of Bangladesh batsmen.Tino Best and Krishmar Santokie will be waiting on the wings.  Bangladesh also will have to play two very high quality spinners from among the four Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine, Shane Shillingford and Verrasamy Permeul. West Indian spinners appeared to have improved a lot taking a few tricks of Pakistani Spinning legend Saqlain Mustaq.

Given the present situation I would suggest the following playing XI for the first ODI as a good start will be necessary for raising the morale of the team. Tamim, Anamul, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Huq, Mushfique , Mahmudullah , Nasir , Sohag Gazi ,Mashrafee, Razzak and Taskin . Tamim and Anamul are still the best players to take advantage of field restrictions in the early overs; Kayes will give stability to the batting. His recent experience of Caribbean tour with Bangladesh A team will help a lot. Now a question or two may be raised about playing and extra batsman or play three pacers. I would suggest playing an additional batsman as Bangladesh batting may panic if it loses early wickets and may collapse. Tamim is due to get back into his own self. The batting order may need to change shuffling Mushfique with Mominul. Nasir and Mahmudullah will have to play well to cover for the absence of Sakib.

I hope Taskin bowling with his idol Mashrafee will give early break through. He must be used in five, three and two spells as Mashrafee may like to bowl in two spells. Sohag Gazi has to live up to his reputation of Gayle nemesis. Razzak and Mahmudullah have to tighten the screw in the middle overs. I hope Bangladesh will bowl well and the fielders will support with good catching and sharp fielding. If the bowling combination does not work Bangladesh should consider bringing in either Rubel Hossain or Al Amin in place of a batsman in the second and third ODI.

We expect Bangladesh to play to their potential in ODIs as it is in ODI Bangladesh has better chance of winning against West Indies . In T2o and Tests the challenges will be different which we will deal with in the next write up.

Well our expectations must not be very high .We only hope that the team shows fighting spirit and play to potential.

BDST: 1255 HRS, AUG 03, 2014