BCB ponder upon Test squad against Zimbabwe
In the last 10 Test innings Mahmudullah scored only one 50 and had 8 scores below 25. The team management certainly expected a lot more from one of their most veteran members.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is taking its time to announce the Test squad for the upcoming Zimbabwe series. According to sources, the management is set to make some big decisions.
Firstly, there is the vulnerability of the middle order. Mohammad Mithun, Liton Das, and Mahmudullah Riyad have not been consistent.
BCB will soon look into the matter he suggested.
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"It was all similar. The series against Sri Lanka, the Test match against Afghanistan, the India and Pakistan tours, there was no sign of improvement. We are thinking hard about this."
The management is apparently unhappy with the performances of a couple of senior cricketers. According to sources in BCB, Mahmudllah is a big concern amongst the BCB think tank.
Mahmudullah's body language looked enervated throughout the first Test against Pakistan. Especially the way he got out on the hat-trick ball from Naseem Shah, raised a lot of eyebrows within the BCB.
In the last 10 Test innings, Mahmudullah scored only one 50 and had 8 scores below 25. The team management certainly expected a lot more from one of their most veteran members.
Also, Nazmul Hossain, Mominul Haque, Liton Das, and Mohammad Mithun failed in the last away Test. Nazmul accumulated 82 runs in two innings. Mominul scored 71, Mithun amassed 66, Liton 62 and Tamim scored 37 in the Test match.
But the good news is Mushfiqur Rahim is almost certain to return to the team. The diminutive right-hander opted out of the Pakistan series citing security concerns from family. He is almost certain to retain his position in the XI, and BCB hopes that he would provide the stability the team lacks at the moment.
Similarly, The bowling attack also has not performed at its best. Rubel Hossain, Abu Jayed and Ebadat Hossain tried and bent their backs but were without much result. Senior spinner Taijul Islam did not handle the responsibility of the team's premier spinner in the absence of Shakib Al Hasan, and only managed 3 wickets in his last 3 Test matches.
There will be a BCB meeting next week, where all these issues will be addressed. The first Test match against Zimbabwe starts on 22 February. Training camp starts five days earlier to that.
