The onus will be entirely on the pace bowlers down in the Proteas territory as the wickets there are no doubt expected to assist the speedsters.
“Lacking in experience may be yes but the young guns from Bangladesh have what it takes to make the batsmen jump and hop around with their speed and bounce,” former Bangladesh opener Ishtiaque Ahmad summarized that while sharing his views with BSS on Tuesday.
He said Taskin and Rubel are clocking 140 plus on a more consistent basis while young pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman can also generate that deceptive delivery much beyond the 140 mark with effective yorkers and cutters to follow.
“Shafiul Islam has been the one with more controlled swing and movements with the odd deliveries surprising the batsmen for pace while Subhashish can extract steep bounce from short of good length that can account for wickets also,” one of the leading cricket experts said.He said depending on the nature of the wicket at Potchefstroom which no doubt would have a lot of carry and bounce then four pacers are likely to form the attack with Subhashish the probable candidate looking to be elbowed out given that all are reportedly fit and raring to go.
With the exception of Mustafizur who has already tasted the 5 wickets in Test cricket and has snared 4 wickets on couple of occasions in an innings is a genuine wicket taker and should look to grab this opportunity to show case his talent as a fast bowler of pedigree, said Ishtiaque.
Rubel Hossain the most experienced of the lot with 24 tests under his belt and the young and exciting Taskin Ahmed would also be licking their lips at the prospect of bowling on wickets that would enable them to hurl their bazookas at the opponents.
Ishtiaque said should the need for four pace bowlers arise then it would be a tough call for the management to decide as to which batsmen to drop. Even if Mahmudullah Riyadh appears to be the only batsmen likely to be considered the odd man out but his off spinning options just might see him through to the final eleven.
Given that the frontline batsmen have all tasted a bit of run scoring success albeit in insignificant numbers which just may encourage the think tanks to bolster their batting side instead of the four pronged pace attack, he said.
The former national opener said the most experienced of them all Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim Iqbal are expected to be their lynchpin followed by the talented Sabbir Rahman, Mominul Haque and Soumya Sarkar while Imrul Kayes and Mahmudullah Riyadh are expected to make their experience felt.
Come the 28th the Bangladesh team are to prove to the World whether their progress in Test cricket is actually on the rise or not and to prove that on an unfamiliar terrain where the likelihood of facing snorters will be the order of the day would be an intriguing prospect.
“Yours truly however feels that the boys will come out with flying colours and come out of Shakib’s shadow. They all have will power and guts to get their true baptism again by fire the in Proteas territory as a genuine blossomed Test team,” he said.
