DHAKA: A 15-member strong Bangladesh A team leaves Dhaka today for playing three One Day Internationals (ODIs) against India A team. They will play two three-day matches one each against India A and Ranji Trophy Champions Karnataka also on this tour.

Expectations of tiger fans are sky rocketing as 14 of 15-member squad have already represented Bangladesh in one format or other. The only uncapped player left arm spinner Saqlain Sajib is also a regular success in domestic cricket.

Bangladesh A squad: Anamul Haque, Rony Talukdar, Liton Das, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque (capt), Nasir Hossain, Saqlain Sajib, Arafat Sunny, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shuvagata Hom, Jubair Hossain.

The schedule:
Bangladesh A tour of India
•    Sept 16 - 1st ODI v India A, Bangalore
•    Sept 18 - 2nd ODI v India A, Bangalore
•    Sept 20 - 3rd ODI v India A, Bangalore
•    Sept 22-24 - Three-day match v Karnataka, Mysore
•    Sept 27-29 - Three day match v India A, Bangalore

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also announced their reasonably strong squads for encountering Bangladesh A team.

One-day squad: Unmukt Chand (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Kuldeep Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Karn Sharma, Rishi Dhawan, S Aravind, Dhawal Kulkarni, Rush Kalaria, Gurkeerat Singh Mann

Three-day squad: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer, Baba Aparajith, Naman Ojha, Jayant Yadav, Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Gopal, Abhimanyu Mithun, Varun Aaron, Ishwar Pandey, Sheldon Jackson

Australia is coming to Bangladesh for playing two test matches soon. This visit of Bangladesh A team is perfectly timed to give several fringe players venturing to get back into the test team a great opportunity to redeem. The team led-by talented early order batsman Mominul Haque has 7 genuine batsmen and 7 bowlers.



We may count Shubhagato Hom as all-rounder. Four of the seven batsmen Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Liton K Das and Rony Talukdar are genuine openers. Until recently, Anamul Huq was a regular partner of Tamim Iqbal in ODI before getting injured in an ICC World Cup match. This will be a great opportunity for him to impress selectors. His likely partner Soumya Sarker has already rocked the cricket world with his aggressive batting. This opportunity will give him valuable experience in testing overseas condition.

 Liton Das and Rony are also openers in domestic circuit. They have performed admirably well in domestic circuit regularly before forcing their way into national squad. They may have to play in the top order at number 4 or 5 as skipper Mominul is a specialist in number three. He has already proved his class and talent in the longer version of the game. Perhaps there were unnecessary experiments with his batting order in limited over version, which created problem for him in adjusting.

Hope this tour will settle his position .He has a great temperament. The team however, lacks some depth in early middle order batting as Shabbir and Nasir are ideal late middle order batsmen. There should have been at least one experienced middle order batsman in the team who could consolidate the batting and hold the innings together. Hope Shubhagato Hom can be trusted to do that as he has a little bit more experience.

 Nasir and Shabbir are ideal batsmen for number 6 and 7 for taking advantage of relatively older ball and tired attack. The team has a very strong and balanced bowling attack. Taskin, Rubel and Al Amin in no time along with Mustafiz will spearhead Bangladesh new ball attack in all format. Then there is Shafiul whom Bangladesh can also rely. Taskin and Shafiul are returning from injury. Team must not over stress them.

Perhaps for this reason bowling coach Heath Steak is accompanying the team. Extra care is essential for Taskin. He is a great resource and must not be rushed for longer version yet unless his body is ready for it. Anyway, three-day matches will be ideal to check his suitability.

Spin attack has depth and diversity. There are two quality left arm spinners in Arafat Sunny and Saqlain Sajib, two off spinners in Shubhgato and Nasir Hossain and two leg spinners in Jubair Hossain and Shabbir. We think Bangladesh team is ready for any type of surface offered for the matches. The team also has two specialist wicket keepers Liton and Anamul. Shabbir, Nasir, Soumya are brilliant all round fielders. If the team plays to potential we find no reasons why it cannot win all ODIs.

Three-day matches in not too responsive wickets often do not yield results .We hope Bangladesh A team is capable of giving a good account as well also.

Those who follow IPL must be acquainted with most of the players of Indian A team as they feature in different franchise. : Unmukt Chand ,Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair are regular success in domestic circuit.

Raina is an indispensable player of India ODI team. Karn Sharma, Rishi Dhawan, S Aravind, Dhawal Kulkarni are fringe bowlers for Indian national team.

The ODI matches will definitely create keen contest .But Bangladesh has little to worry as many of the present team featured well against Indian National team in the not too distant past.

We are not sure that three-day team is strong enough even though it has Shikhar Dhawan as captain and Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, Naman Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja in the team. The attack with Abhimanyu Mithun, Varun Aaron, Ishwar Pandey, and Sheldon Jackson may not bother Bangladesh.

But having said this Bangladesh has no reason to relax .They have play to potential even to create contest. Like Bangladesh India is taking the series for testing several of their fringe players for their upcoming series against South Africa and busy international schedule to follow.

Sending Heath Steak with the team is a smart decision .He will definitely keep a close eye on the fitness of the pace bowlers especially Taskin. Bangladesh will desperately need a 100% fit Taskin for World T20 and other international limited over assignment next year.

A ODI series win and competitive performances in three day matches will mean a lot for Bangladesh. We are confident that Mominul squad has competence for it.

BDST: 1151 HRS, SEP 14, 2015
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