With the much anticipated fascinating contest between strong India and a new look Bangladesh only a little over two weeks away, the news of at least 4 key players of Bangladesh not 100% match fit has started worrying the think tank.

Bangladesh does not have many high caliber international quality players in the reserve to replace four main stays of the team. Morover, India is a very strong opposition and is coming with full strength. The absence of any of the four Tamim, Shakib, Mushfiqur and Rubel is going to hurt Bangladesh pretty badly. All four have been given rest and were relived from appearing in domestic engagements in desperate bid to recover as much as possible before the only test starting on 10 June 2015. For performing strongly against India all four needs to be fully fit.

Bangladesh is playing cricket almost without much break since end last year. Cricket fatigue for playing in different climate and conditions are quite likely .Moreover, Tamim and Shakib had operations for earlier critical injuries. Mushfiqur and Rubel picked injuries during the first test against Pakistan at Khulna.

TamimIqbal,the ace opening batsman had an operation in Australia not much before the world cup. He played the world and then all matches against touring Pakistan team. He was in prolific form with the bat scoring two back to back centuries in first two ODIs and a punishing double century in the record breaking second innings in the first test of the series. His legs are aching. Any major stress may make him go under surgeons’ knife once more forcing him out of cricket for 4-6 months. With a long season already on the card against major cricketing nations South Africa and Australia after India Bangladesh can only keep its fingers crossed. Tamim is at this moment indispensable in Bangladesh batting in all formats.

Shakib had a shin operation some time back. Constant cricket starting from Zimbabwe series, World Cup, Pakistan series, IPL have taken heavy toll on his body. He is complaining recurrence of pain in the shin. He is premiere all-rounder – the top ICC ranked in all formats. He plays in all three formats for Bangladesh. Shakib requires bowling longer spells in Test. His shin problem may restrict his bowling a bit in test. That will definitely take away much of the competitive edge from Bangladesh attack. We hope Shakib recovers and appears fully fit for India series.

Mushfiqur Rahim injured his finger during the only innings of Pakistan in the Khulna test while attempting a catch behind the wicket and could not keep wickets. He did not fully recover and should not have been risked playing and keeping wickets at Dhaka test. His injury even impacted on his batting. He has also not fully recovered. He is the back bone of Bangladesh batting and is also the captain in test. Bangladesh will suffer a great deal without him. Even if he recovers well he must not be risked as wicket keeper in test. Bangladesh now has option to play Liton K Das wicket keeper batsman. Mushfiqur can bat and lead the side. A fit Mushfiqur will brighten our prospect in ODI series.

Injury of Rubel will hurt equally;mainly in test where Mashrafee and Taskin are not yet considered fit enough to sustain the rigor of test match. Mustafiz is too raw for playing test. Is Al Amin forbidden for any reason to play international match soon? If not he must be included in the squad as cover for Rubel or otherwise Taskin may need to be risked for test . Bangladesh cannot afford to appear with an under strength pace attack against the best test batting line up of the world at this moment. A poor performance in test will dampen the spirit of the team in ODI series.

The present situation has appeared due poor planning and very weak domestic infrastructure of Bangladesh cricket .A cricket mad nation definitely produces enough natural talents. If they are scouted fresh, nourished well with mentoring coaching and playing on true surfaces there are no reasons why there cannot be more Mashrafee, Taskins and Rubels coming. We hope the situation will alert Bangladesh. We have heard the high performance squad operation will resume soon under care of an ex English professional.

We will also need proper local domestic cricket played on true surfaces and much more transparent team selection. Tamim, Shakib, Mushfiqur must be pushed by talented new players to keep them honest as well. Bangladesh is graduating to a new league. To reach higher and stay there we need a completely professional approach and accountable management.

We hope Tamim, Shakib, Mushfiqur and Rubel all becomes fully match fit in next two weeks. Bangladesh can only challenge the very strong Indian team with all top ranked Bangladeshis players appearing and performing to their full potential. Otherwise it may become extremely challenging to prove competitive even.

BDST: 1043 HRS, May 24, 2015
AKA