It's an exciting time for Bangladesh cricket with so many young players: Hathurusingha

With the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Taskin Ahmed not available due to various reasons, Bangladesh Test team finds itself in a very interesting position. Evidence of a transition is quite obvious and there is a conscious effort of setting up a squad that looks different from that in white-ball cricket.

When Bangladesh take on Sri Lanka on Friday in the first match of the two-Test series in Sylhet, Mominul Haque will be the only man with an experience of playing more than 50 Tests. 

Zakir Hasan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Shahadat Hossain and Towhid Hridoy have only 18 Tests among them. Hridoy could make his Test debut in the series after replacing the injured Mushfiqur Rahim. 

"We are going to miss Mushy's experience," Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha told reporters on Thursday. "He is in good form. It is very hard to replace this kind of experience straight away. We are going to back our young players. Hridoy is coming in. We also have [Shahadat Hossain] Dipu and Shadman [Islam] in the squad. They have been with the Test team lately. It is an exciting time for Bangladesh cricket with so many young players. I will ask them to grab every opportunity."

"The mood is good in the camp. There are a lot of new faces. We have different teams in red and white-ball cricket. The new boys are bringing a lot of energy and enthusiasm," he added. 

The pace-bowling line-up is short on experience as well with Khaled Ahmed being the highest capped seamer with 12 Tests. Shoriful Islam is the first choice fast bowler having played both the Tests against New Zealand as the lone seamer last year. 

But they have called up two uncapped fast bowlers in Nahid Rana and Musfik Hasan, averaging 21.9 and 21.1 in first-class cricket. One of them could make it into the Bangladesh XI for the first Test in Sylhet where the pitch has a tinge of green. 

"They are both exciting prospects for Bangladesh. They can both bowl 140-plus. They are very young. They are strong boys. They made good starts to their first-class careers. They bowled lots of overs. I am looking forward to seeing one of them playing in this game, if not both," Hathurusingha said.

"The pitch is a little bit different. The last one [against New Zealand] was bare without much grass. This one has a tinge of green grass. Weather will be a factor in this game. Taking all that into consideration and the opposition's limitation and our strength, this is going to be a bigger challenge than the New Zealand series. We have to play our best game to beat Sri Lanka," he added.