Tiger’s pacer problem

Bangladesh bowler Rubel Hossain (2nd L), team captain Masrafe bin Mortaza and Taskin Ahmed (on Hossain's back) react after England captain Eoin Morgan was caught out for a duck during their Cricket World Cup match in Adelaide, March 9, 2015 Photo: Reuters

Star Online Report

After Bangladesh announced the team before the start of the Test match against India at Fatullah, many eyebrows were raised as Mohammad Shahid was the only pacer in the line-up.

Where India are playing three pacers on the batting pitch at Fatullah, Mohammad Shahid is the lone warrior meant to give Tigers breakthroughs with the new and old ball.

Although Bangladesh’s bowling coach Heath Streak said playing three pacers was a luxury for his team, it was expected to see at least two fast bowlers take the field for Tigers.

Test cricket seems to be the place where Bangladesh surprise many with their team selection.

Choosing a single pacer for five-day cricket with Rubel Hossain in the squad has raised many questions.

If Rubel is not meant to play, why is he in the squad? Does he have any fitness issue?

Perhaps his Test average of 70 and strike-rate of 116.6 don’t justify his inclusion.

Since his ODI form has been spectacular off late, he could’ve played in the sole Test match against India.

Mohammad Shahid of Bangladesh struck early blows during Pakistan's second innings on day three of the 2nd test match at Mirpur. Photo: STAR

With only two Tests to his name, Mohammad Shahid is the leading strike-bowler for Bangladesh. His new-ball partner is Soumya Sarkar, a part-time bowler at best.

Even though Abul Hasan was included in the squad, Tigers’ team management decided to play an extra spinner against India.

Since Indian batsmen are most comfortable against spin, what can an additional slow-bowler do on a benign pitch? Not to mention all the slow-bowlers are not specialist spinners.

Lack of fast bowlers in Bangladesh cannot be more evident in recent times. The most successful pacers in the last five years are all out of contention.

From 2010 to 2014, Robiul took 25 wickets in 9 Tests. Rubel captured 21 wickets in 16 matches. Shahadat 12 in 10 Tests and Al-Amin six in six.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan said he stuck to his decision to send Al-Amin Hossain home to set an example within the team

Rubel was not picked for some strange reason. Shahadat is out with injury. Robiul’s form in BCL was nothing to write home about. Al-Amin is on exile from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 for disciplinary reasons. Taskin is not ready yet for the longest version of cricket.

After defeat against Pakistan, captain Mushfiqur Rahim blamed the pacers publicly during a press conference.
He even questioned their work ethic and mindset for Test matches besides their inability to keep themselves fit.

Taskin Ahmed goes for a celebratory run after dismissing Pakistan’s Haris Sohail in the first match of the Dan Cake ODI Cricket Series at Mirpur Stadium. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

The biggest question for now is how Bangladesh Cricket Board will overcome this acute pacer crisis?

The Pacer-Hunt initiative unearthed fast-bowlers like Robiul, Shafiul and Rubel. That programme is stuck in limbo for the last eight years.

The concept of scouting fast-bowlers from all across Bangladesh was Sarwar Imran’s creation.

He was understandably aggrieved when reporters asked him about the Pacer-Hunt programme.

“Why didn’t you raise a voice when the programme was discontinued?” he rebuked. “Eight years have passed after 2007; still it came to nobody’s attention?”

He admitted that the reason behind lack of pacers is the irregularity of scouting programmes.

“I tried to initiate something similar on my own, but it can’t be called a Pacer-Hunt programme.” Sarwar added.

“You need to pick up 20 wickets to win Test matches. At least two fast bowlers are needed even in spinner-friendly sub continental conditions,” he explained.

When a spinner is given the new ball, it puts added pressure on them while destroying their confidence in the process.

You ought to have four pacers in places like England, Australia, South Africa or New Zealand. Bangladesh can’t even find one genuine fast bowler!

No condition on $2b Indian loan: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said no condition was imposed on US$ 2 billion Line of Credit (LoC) to be provided as loans to Bangladesh by India, saying that Bangladesh is accepting the money to use independently.

"There is no condition in accepting $2 billion LoC from India. We can spend the amount in the projects and sectors at our will...we don't receive anything on conditions," she said. "We are an independent country and we are accepting the money by maintaining friendly relations and keeping an opportunity for working independently," she added.

The premier made the comments while responding to a supplementary from independent lawmaker Rustam Ali Farazi during question-answer session in the parliament.

Quoting from a Planning Ministry report that Bangladesh economy has secured the 44th position on global rating, jumping 14 steps ahead as per the current prices of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Leader of the House said the government would spend the money to further speed up this uplift.

The Planning Ministry prepared the report "Bangladesh is moving ahead, the latest position of Bangladesh in the global economic arena" based on the information of the World Development Indicators database, World Bank, April 2015 and the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO), April 2015.

"We would spend the money to achieve our GDP target, alleviate poverty and take the country to the path of rapid development. Keeping this in mind, Bangladesh would be upgraded to become a middle income country by 2021 and a developed one by 2041," Sheikh Hasina said.

BANGLADESH V INDIA, ONLY TEST, FATULLAH

India on top after day 1

Shikhar Dhawan of India scored his third century of his career during the first day of the sole Test match against Bangladesh at Fatullah. Photo: STAR

Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay took India to a commanding position after the rain-curtailed first day of the Test match against Bangladesh at Fatullah stadium today.

When bad light stopped play, only 56 overs were bowled during the entire day when Indian batters made the most of the batting conditions.

Dhawan was playing his natural game and took on the hapless bowlers from ball one.

Bangladesh vs India Test Match

India: 239/0 (56.0 over)

India won the toss and elected to bat

 

He remained unbeaten on 150 from 158 balls, and struck 21 boundaries with his usual flair and force. He peppered the off-side with some cracking shots of spinners during his brilliant knock.

Dhawan could have missed out on his third century of his career had Shuvagata Hom held on to a catch early in the first session.

Murali Vijay played second fiddle to Dhawan most of the day, and chose to be cautious when his partner was blazing away.

He started slowly, but began to open his arms after reaching his fifty. He was unbeaten on 89 runs having played 178 balls.

Vijay’s fluency was evident in all the eight fours he struck, including a massive six straight down the ground.

He reached his 11th fifty of his Test career, and looks good for a big score tomorrow.

Bangladesh bowlers looked innocuous on the benign pitch at Fatullah and failed to trouble the Indian openers with a probing line and length.

They bowled on both sides of the wicket, and got punished repeatedly by the opposing batters.

The lone pacer Mohammad Shahid gave away 52 runs in 12 overs while Taijul Islam and Shuvagata Hom bowled 25 overs between themselves for 102 runs.

Rain after 23 overs of play stopped proceedings of the sole Test match between Bangladesh and India.

India were off to a splendid start with Bangladesh bowlers unable to bowl to a plan.

As Bangladesh played only the single fast bowler, the overhead conditions ideal for swing bowling went begging.

The spinners were unable to extract sufficient turn and bounce to trouble the Indian openers.

Although the pitch had a tinge of green to it, India captain Virat Kohli didn’t hesitate to bat first after winning the toss.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (Captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das (Wicketkeeper), Shuvagata Hom, Jubair Hossain, Taijul Islam and Mohammad Shahid.

India: Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (Wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron.