By Akeem Greene
Bangladesh bowling attack thrives on the slow and low turning pitches, and after the Chattogram turf did not deteriorate as expected, they will look to Dhaka for more assistance to level the series.
While Bangladesh has more than one selection issues, West Indies will toy with the idea of including Veerasammy Permaul as a third outright spin option on the dry surface expected.
Captain Kraigg Brathwaite, speaking on the eve of the second and final Test, which starts Wednesday from 23:30h (Eastern Caribbean time), indicated Permaul is an option to consider given the surface.
“Looking at the pitch, it would be a thought for sure; I think Permaul is a quality spinner, very experienced over the years and obviously come tomorrow that decision would be made,” the skipper said on the eve of the match.
He added, “The pitch will be quite similar to the first Test, see a few cracks as well, but I think it will probably be a bit slower than the first Test. I can’t predict how it will play but as I said it looks dry but we got to buckle down and play some good cricket whether we are batting first or bowling first.”
West Indies got only 259 in the first innings in response to Bangladesh’s 430 and it took a historic and unbeaten double-century from debutant Kyle Mayers and support from another debutant, Nkrumah Bonner, to get them over the line in the pursuit of 395 in the second innings.
“Our first innings score we can improve on that, in the field in we can be a bit tighter, but the first innings score could improve to set up the game better.”
Buoyed by their first win in the subcontinent since November 2016 when they defeated Pakistan in Sharjah, Brathwaite says they can’t get ahead of themselves, as there is a tough job ahead.
“That’s the biggest thing, not to get carried away; happy with the win but we got to start back from zero. That is one of the things the coach stressed in the last two days at the practice sessions and the guys have buckled down and have been working hard.”
The Barbadian further stated, “From me to them is just stay discipline both as a bowling unit and batting unit; don’t think that you are starting at 100, you have to start from zero, we played a hard first Test and we have five days of hard Test cricket coming up.”
Two Bangladesh players, Shakib Al Hasan and Shadman Islam, are both ruled out with hip injuries and Shakib, in particular, will be missed tremendously given the balance he brings and in this case, he is leading wicket-taker – 63 wickets – at the venue.
Despite West Indies lost their previous Test in Dhaka by an innings and 184 runs, they currently hold the momentum in the series and the pressure is on the hosts to draw level.
Bangladesh squad: Mominul Haque (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Liton Das, Yasir Ali, Saif Hassan, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Jayed, Ebadat Hossain, Hasan Mahmud.
West Indies Test Squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Jermaine Blackwood (vice-captain), Nkrumah Bonner, John Campbell, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Kavem Hodge, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Shayne Moseley, Veerasammy Permaul, Kemar Roach, Raymon Reifer, Jomel Warrican.
