Bangladesh spinner Nasir Hossain (L), who is expecting to make his debut, jokes with Shakib Al Hasan while twirling a football on his finger during training at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong yesterday, ahead of tomorrow's first Test against the West Indies here. Stuart Law has backed two players who are at two ends of the spectrum going into the first Test against the West Indies.
The Akram Khan-led selection committee, which on Tuesday announced a 14-member squad for the two-match series that begins tomorrow at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, made as many as five changes from the last time the Tigers played a Test. Mohammad Ashraful, Mahmudullah Riyad, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam and Robiul Islam played against Zimbabwe in August but while Riyad (dengue) and Shafiul (foot injury) are not fit, Ashraful, Razzak and Robiul have been dropped.
Ashraful made a patient 73 in Harare but hasn't done much since, an issue that Law too held against the erratic batsman.“He's a great guy to have around the dressing-room. His work ethic has been outstanding. You want to see him have success but unfortunately, other things have come in. He's not in the Test side but he's not finished. He has his best years ahead of him,” said Law while talking to the reporters yesterday.
“He played well in the Zimbabwe Test, but maybe the other forms of the game have not installed him with great confidence. He's hitting the ball well, it's a shame he has missed out.
“Sometimes these calls are made not to disregard the player completely but to make sure he understands that if you play in the team, you've got to be performing,” he added.
However Ashraful expressed his disappointment at the manner of his disposal.“Akram bhai told me ahead of the second ODI that I should sit the next two out and play in the Test. I told him that I want to play the remaining games and earn my way into the Test side. How can there be a guarantee in cricket? I wanted to play out the ODI series and take it from there,” he told The Daily Star over phone in Chittagong.
“I know I haven't scored a half-century in 18 games. Players have careers that don't last that long but I have played those matches where I got dropped after one or two matches.
“I never got a full stretch. Here too I was going to be dropped after the first game, which has happened often in the past,” he said.But Akram condemned Ashraful's comments, saying that players often change tack according to their performance.
“I don't know what Ashraful has said but I talk to players all the time and I say a lot of things to encourage them. These issues get ignored when they do well but not so when things are not right,” said the chief selector.
There were rumours that the move to drop Ashraful was influenced by BCB higher-ups. When the question was put to the chief selector, he rubbished the claim.
“This is absolute rubbish,” retorted Akram. “He was omitted only on account of his ordinary performance. If we had acted upon pressure or sentiments from different quarters, then he would not have been in the one-day team.
“We were not getting what was expected from Ashraful. He bats at three but he wasn't contributing in several ways so we want to go with the other option -- Shahriar Nafees,” added Akram.Ashraful & co have been replaced by Rokibul Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Elias Sunny, Shuvogoto Hom Chowdhury, Sohrawardi Shuvo and Nazmul Hossain. Out of these, left-arm spinner Sunny has impressed the coach during the preparatory period.
“I have seen him [Elias Sunny] in the BCB Cup. He has pretty good numbers in first-class cricket. He showed plenty of control and took wickets in the BCB Cup and the four-day game. That's all you need to do as a spinner.
“He has the chance to stake a claim for a long career. He opened a few eyes,” he explained, boosting Sunny's chance in the race for the second spinner's spot.With Law and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim set to have a major role in selection matters of the playing eleven, it would be interesting to see how they restructure the Tigers' Test bowling attack (which has seen three changes from the last game) as well as crucial batting positions.
It is common knowledge that batsmen take more time to adjust to international cricket, especially facing fast bowlers, and the job of Law and Mushfiqur has not been made easy by the inconsistency shown by the selectors who have made sweeping changes in crucial areas.For a batsman to adjust to fast bowling takes time and with more of the experienced batsmen out in the cold, it will all start from scratch tomorrow.
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