Bangladesh Prepare to Face Spin Amid Old Opening Worries, With a Turn-Focused Session at Mirpur

Spin dominated Bangladesh's preparations ahead of the Mirpur Test against the West Indies. In a practice session of about three hours at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium academy ground, the batters spent most of their time facing spinners — working on the assumption that, alongside pace and swing with the new ball, even the openers may have to deal with turn.

Four batters from the Test squad batted in two nets at the academy ground. Pacer Ebadot Hossain was there alongside spinners Naim Hasan and Taijul Islam, but most of the net bowlers were spinners. Najmul Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mominul Haque and Sadman Islam faced them in rotation.

National team batting coach Mohammad Ashraful and assistant coach Malibongwe Maketa accompanied the batters in that effort to read spin, and Ashraful was also seen working separately with Sadman Islam. By nightfall, however, Ashraful had been removed from the batting coach's role.

In the morning Ashraful took on the thrower's duties alone and had Sadman practise sweeps and reverse sweeps for about half an hour. Sadman is an opener, whose main job will be to face pace with the new ball. But the session bore the stamp of how much of Bangladesh's Mirpur plan revolves around spin; otherwise the openers would hardly need to focus on it so much.

If Bangladesh ultimately play on a spin-friendly wicket at Mirpur, the bowlers alone will not be enough — the batters will also have to know how to play spin. Bangladesh's past history of falling into spin traps at home has only deepened that fear.

One member of the team, however, wanted to keep the wicket a mystery: 'Let's see what kind of wicket it is — let it stay unknown for now!'

Whatever the wicket, the team's eyes will certainly be on Sadman Islam. Bangladesh have tried five different openers in the last two years, but none of them could settle.

Eventually Tanzid Hasan was brought in somewhat hurriedly from white-ball cricket. Since scoring a century against Australia, he has been the one settled alongside Sadman at the top. But all the chopping and changing has not altered the picture at the start of the innings.

In four years of Test Championship matches, Bangladesh have managed only one opening partnership of over a hundred. Despite being fourth in the points table, they are last in the list of hundred-plus opening stands. That lone stand came in 2022 in Chattogram against India, through Najmul Hossain and Zakir Hasan.

Tanzid and Sadman did share a century stand against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, but that was not part of the Test Championship. Of the two, Sadman's place is the shakier: in this Championship cycle he has only one fifty in 10 innings, averaging 24.11.

Bangladesh do not have many alternatives either. There is no third opener in the squad for this series. Mahfizul Islam is in the selectors' thinking as a possible option, but they are not entirely satisfied with the kind of opposition and wickets on which the opener scored three centuries in seven National League innings. Given a chance for the BCB XI in a practice match against the West Indies, he was out for 4.

For a Bangladesh side dreaming of the Test Championship final, the third opener's slot therefore remains effectively empty. Before that, the team management wants one thing — for Sadman and Tanzid to do well in this series against the West Indies. Otherwise the opening worry will only grow, and in that examination Bangladesh's openers may have to handle turn on a spin-friendly wicket as well as pace and swing with the new ball.