After a crunch competition in the first Test, Bangladesh are yet again ready to face the visitors England in the second and final Test of the series. England won the close series opener at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong and will be confident to walk into this Test. Bangladesh also performed well in the match and will look to perform better to win this match and end the series 1-1 against a strong team such as England. Looking at the way the two team shave performed, there are equal chances for both the sides to win the match and end the series on a positive note. Full Cricket Scorecard: Bangladesh vs England 2nd Test at Mirpur
England are playing the series without their main pacer James Anderson as the player is injured. Stuart Broad, who was leading the attack for England, has also been rested along with veteran pacer Gareth Batty. This makes place for Steven Finn and rookie spinner Zafar Ansari. The bowling evidently lacks experience and is expected not to play as smoothly as they do in home conditions. It will be a big challenge for Ansari, who will make his international debut away from home. However, he will get assistance from the pitch of Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka. The pitch traditionally favours the spinners and the ball is expected to turn from second day and so on. All Ansari will have to do is pull off a controlled action.
The English top-order, known to have big names like Alastair Cook and Joe Root in Tests, has not played up to the mark in the first Test and it is their only chance to better their numbers in Bangladesh. The team will expect to get a good start with a stable partnership towards the start of the innings and the onus will be upon these two players to pull that off.
On the other hand are the hosts Bangladesh, who have done a good job but lost the close match despite their efforts. At points, the team had the momentum of the match with them but could not maintain the same throughout, that cost them the match. One thing that is evident from the team’s performance is the inconsistent flow of runs in the batting order. What Bangladesh need to win against England is contribution from everyone in the line-up equally. Big names like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan will have to play big knocks and build partnerships with the young ones in the team.
Another problem that the Bangladesh side has faced is the underperformance of their pacers. While rookie spinners pulled off wonders for the side, pacers could not produce much of a fruitful performance, giving away runs but failing to scalp as many wickets as expected. The performance of Mehedi Hasan and Shakib with the ball has to be the silver-lining of the team’s performance along with the crucial knock by Sabbir Rahman, who kept the hopes of teh homeside alive on his debut Test. As the team faces England at Mirpur on Friday, here is the likely XI for Bangladesh that the team is expected to take the field with.
Top-order: The Bangladesh top-order has many big names but the key to success is their performance. In the previous match, Tamim Iqbal performed in the first innings while Imrul Kayes did it in the second but they will have to unite the force and back each other up by equal contribution from each. If the openers Tamim and Kayes manage to give Bangladesh a good start, it will be easier for the team to carry that momentum forward and get to a good score.
Team’s regular No. 3 batsman Mominul Haque has failed in both the innings which raises a question on him being sent at the crucial spot. Sitting out there is Soumya Sarkar, who has done decently in the recent matches and deserves a chance to show his skills since the other option has failed. Sarkar can be brought in in place of Mominul.
Middle-order: Mahmudullah comes out at No. 4 for Bangladesh, making the middle-order strong. The batsman has time and again delivered match-winning knocks but has failed to do something similar in this series. He will have to shine with the bat in order to help the Bangladesh middle-order get a steady run-flow. Following Mahmudullah, comes out the skipper, Mushfiqur Rahim himself. Mushfiqur did a very good job to play as per the situation and build up a crucial partnership with Sabbir Rahman in the last match. However, the pressure of captaincy and his excitement is what the player will have to combat for his performance to be called perfect. At No. 6 it is Shakib who comes out to bat. Shakib has been among the most regular, dependable and consistent members of the Bangladesh side. Though he bowled useful spells that bore a lot of wickets, his batting has not been up to the mark in the series. He is one pillar of the middle-order batting and will have to play up to the expectations. Shakib can be the one who forms the last big partnership of the Bangladesh innings, given the potential he has and the partnership can come with Sabbir Rahman. Sabbir, who has become a popular name with his performance in the limited-overs format, showed his class in Tests as well and can be promoted up and sent at No. 7. The batsman will be responsible for the holding the tail-enders’ innings together while playing his own game.
Bowlers: Talking about Bangladesh bowling in the series, two names that come to the mind are Mehedi Hasan and Shakib. Shakib has shown why he is among the most trusted spinners for his side. He made his experience count and bowled beautifully to bag 7 wickets in the previous match. But Mehedi’s performance is what surprised everyone. Being a debutant, his spell was incredible as he picked up 6 wickets in the first innings and took another in the second. Another name is Taijul Islam, who, despite not taking as many wickets, bowled economically. It is the pacers that might concern Mushfiqur as debutant Kamrul Islam Rabbi could pick up only one wicket with a not-so-good economy and Shafiul Islam went wicketless. Shafiul has been rested for the match and has been replaced by young Subashis Roy. If the pacers maintain a disciplined bowling, Bangladesh bowling will look even stronger.
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Bangladesh likely XI: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (c&wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Subashis Roy, Karul Islam Rabbi
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