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.
Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal stands on the brink of some exciting personal milestones, which he could grab in the upcoming West Indies series.
Tamim has been of late in the headline for all wrong reasons as he claimed to have been misquoted regarding his T20 International future. As it was widely reported that Tamim was not given the chance to speak about his T20 career, the BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon reacted vehemently, saying that Tamim was contacted constantly in this regard.
The situation was such that Tamim had to come out with a facebook post to clear the air at a time when he was about to board a West Indies-bound flight.
However, Tamim has the chance to concentrate on his personal milestone in West Indies, forgetting what happened regarding his T20 plan.
During the recent Test series against Sri Lanka, Tamim had the chance to become the first Bangladeshi batter to reach 5000 runs milestone but he missed out it as Mushfiqur Rahim grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
But Tamim could achieve the feat in the second Test had he not got his first pair of duck in a Test match in his career. He is now 19 runs away from the feat and it is highly likely that he could make those 19 runs to become the second Bangladeshi batter to reach 5000 runs milestone.
He is also 174 runs away from being the first Bangladeshi batter to reach 8000 runs in ODI cricket. Earlier, he became the first one from this country to complete 5000, 6000 and 7000 ODI runs.
If he can score 435 runs in the whole series (in Test and ODI because he is not playing T20 cricket), he will be the first Bangladeshi batter to score 15000 runs in International cricket.
But that is not the end. He is just one six away to hit 100 sixes in ODI cricket as first Bangladeshi batter also.
Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Prothistan (BKSP)green team and Bangladesh Police Archery Club emerged champions in the recurve and compound event of Bangladesh League held on Thursday at Shaheed Ahsan Ullah Master Stadium in Tongi.
BKSP Green team secured 12 points after winning six out of seven matches to emerge champion in recurve division while Army Archery Club finished runners-up with ten points after winning five out of seven matches.
While Bangladesh Police Archery Club secured 12 points after winning six out of seven matches to emerge compound division champions while Border Guard Bangladesh finished runners-up with 12 points after winning six out of seven matches. Bangladesh Police Archery Club have become champions by virtue of securing better league points.
The national booters had their first training session today (Saturday) at Malaysia under the supervision of head coach Javier Cabrera.
The national booters participated in a team meeting, gym and swimming session at Team Hotel in the morning. They also held a one and half hour practice session at the Mini Shah Alam Stadium in Malaysia in the afternoon. All the players and officials of the team are well and fit and there is no injury problem in the team, according to a message received here from Bangladesh Football Federation on Saturday afternoon.
Earlier, Bangladesh national football team reached Malaysia from Indonesia Thursday last to participate in the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 qualifiers scheduled to be held from June 8-14 in Malaysia.
Bangladesh which was placed at group E along with Bahrain Turkmenistan and Malaysia in the AFC Asian Cup, will play the first match against Bahrain on June 8, face against Turkmenistan on June 11 and meet host Malaysia on June 14.