The woes for Bangladesh have continued after the disappointing tour of Zimbabwe where they lost the one-off Test as well as the one-day series. The fact that Zimbabwe were returning to Test level after a hiatus of five years, Bangladesh were expected to do well but that was not to be. Then came the home series against West Indies and once again, the passionate home support was supposed to lift them out of the dumps. That too has not happened even when there was a revamp of the whole team set-up.
The ODI series loss has led to further changes in the Test squad, perennial underperformer Mohammad Ashraful has been shown the door with other senior players like Abdur Razzak, Mahmudullah, Shafiul Islam, Robiul Islam and Junaid Siddique also missing the buss. It seems Mushfiqur Rahim and Stuart Law want bunch of in-form players in the Test team.
Amidst all this, Bangladesh did manage to show glimpses of their potential- the thrilling T20 win and the massive victory in the third ODI under Mushfiqur would have given the team some confidence. In Shakib al Hasan, the hosts have a world class all-rounder; the usually gritty Mushfiqur Rahim would want his predecessor to be in full flow in the two-Test series.
If Bangladesh are struggling to find a winning combination, so are their opponents. It must be said that West Indies have replaced Pakistan as the most unpredictable side in world cricket. They have the ability to score 300 and be all-out for 61 against the same attack just days later. Darren Sammy and his men will have to find some kind of consistency in their performance to prevent such embarrassing situations.
The Caribbean side is without Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, thus the younger crop has to take the responsibility in the batting department. Shivnarine Chanderpaul would be vital in the middle order, Marlon Samuels should get a game given his prolific scoring on the tour thus far while as Lendl Simmons faces a test at top of the order.
As things stand, both teams would want to take the lead in the series, for that to happen they have to play good cricket though.
Bangladesh Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Shakib Al Hasan, Raqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Shahriar Nafees, Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Shuvagata Hom, Elias Sunny.
West Indies Squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Carlton Baugh (wk), Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Keiran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford, Lendl Simmons.
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