West Indies out to ruin Shakib’s party

West Indies out to ruin Shakib’s party

West Indies team management made it clear that they will not leave no stone unturned to beat Bangladesh in the upcoming two-match Test series despite naming a comparatively inexperienced side.
West Indies in fact needed to win this series for the sake of improving their position in ICC World Test Championship (WTC) in which they are now in sixth position with two wins from seven matches.
“We are looking to pick up World Test Championship points against Bangladesh which will be very important. It would be good for us to use our home advantage to win both Test matches and collect those points,” West Indies lead selector Desmond Haynes said in a statement.
The Caribbean side included three debutants in their 12-man Test squad with wicket-keeper batter Devon Thomas, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie and fast bowler Anderson Phillip making their way at the expense of some of the experienced players like Jason Holder, Kemar Roach.
Holder requested for a break from the series while Roach, who turned out to be Bangladesh’s nemesis in the last Test series here in 2018, failed to pass a fitness test. But he is still in a chance to be included as the 13th player, subject to his fitness.
But West Indies will start as favourite given their recent performance at home and against Bangladesh. They have of late defeated England by 1-0 at their home den and won their last two series against Bangladesh also.
Despite fielding an extremely inexperienced side, West Indies won the last two-match series in Bangladesh in 2021. They even chased down a 395-run target for a stunning three-wicket victory in the first Test, thanks to debutant Kyle Mayers who became the first batsman to score a double century in the fourth innings of a Test.
Earlier at their own den in 2018, West Indies also beat Bangladesh by 2-0. In that Test series, Bangladesh could not make more than 168 runs in four innings of those two Test matches. They even were bowled out for 43 runs in their series, which remains their lowest Test innings as of now.
Shakib Al Hasan who led the side in disastrous tour in West Indies in 2018, was back in the helm again after Mominul Haque decided to quit the Test captaincy in a bid to regain his lost form.
Even though his name is involved in that disastrous tour, Shakib led Bangladesh to 2-0 win over West Indies in 2009. He performed with both batting and bowling and as a captain. He took over the captaincy from Mashrafe Bin Mortaza who had to be sidelined due to his injury during the first day of the first Test. Mashrafe thereafter never played any Test. That was the first time, Shakib got the captaincy and made the series memorable one.
However, it is to see whether he could bring that memory back, burying the nightmare of 2018 series.
In fact the BCB appointed Shakib as captain in a bid to usher a new era in Bangladesh’s Test cricket after a perpetual failure in this format.
West Indies squad: Kraigg Brathwaite ©, Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, John Campbell, Joshua Da Silva, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Anderson Phillip, Raymon Reifer, Jayden Seales and Devon Thomas Reserves: Tagernarine Chanderpaul and Shermon Lewis.