Afghanistan is scheduled to travel in Bangladesh on June 10 for the lone Test match that will be played at Mirpur. The itinerary for Afghanistan’s trip of Bangladesh was released in two sections by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
The Tigers do not have very fond recollections of playing Afghanistan at home in one-off Tests. The first test match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh was place at Chattogram, where Afghanistan came out on top with an impressive victory by a margin of 224 runs.
Afghanistan only fielded one fast bowler, while Bangladesh’s sole option in this department was Soumya Sarkar, despite the pitch having some turn for spinners. However, despite Bangladesh’s strong batting lineup, the Afghan spinners had a greater impact on the flow of the game than their rivals.
The solitary Test that will be played this time will begin on June 14 at Mirpur and will continue until June 19, when Afghanistan will leave for a series against India over the Eid-ul-Adha holiday. Afghanistan will travel back to Sylhet on July 1 to play two Twenty20 Internationals there on July 14 and 16 after returning to play three One-Day Internationals on July 5,8, and 11 respectively.
After the solitary test match in 2019, there were many conversations that centered on the question of why captain Shakib Al Hasan had favored a spinning track. “The first thing that you need to inquire about is where the pacers are. The World Cup was played on sports wickets, and our team participated. Why did things not go as planned? When that conversation took place, BCB boss Nazmul Hassan Papon had declared, “I have to know who came up with these plans first.”
He also said, “I thought we were going to play on a sporting wicket,” which is something else that he said earlier.
Will there be a change in strategy now that we know Afghanistan’s spinners are a force to be reckoned with? This is especially important when taking into account the fact that Bangladesh’s strength currently resides in their pace department.
On a track designed specifically for spinning, it is anticipated that Afghanistan’s spinners would do better than Bangladesh’s. However, if the Test match against Ireland that took place at Mirpur a month ago is any indication, Bangladesh’s speed attack did not have much to enjoy from the surface. This was the case despite the fact that the Tigers went for a best-of-both-worlds strategy by fielding three pacers and three spinners.
The likelihood is high that the Tigers will have to play this match without their captain Shakib Al Hasan. During the Ireland series, he sustained an injury to the right index finger, and it will take it around six weeks to recover. “You are correct, the likelihood of Shakib being there is quite remote. “If he can’t play, there’s not much we can do about it,” the selector Habibul Bashar said. “Not having him is definitely a big setback, but there’s not much we can do about it.”
The Tigers’ selection of pacers Ebadot Hossain, Khaled Ahmed, and Shoriful Islam for the Ireland Test demonstrated their aspirational nature. Chandika Hathurusingha will be bringing his own approach into the Test, and Bashar is certain that their plans will be put into motion at the appropriate moment.
The fact that there is still a lot of time till the Test has prevented us from sticking to a predetermined strategy. Bashar noted that despite the fact that we do have certain plans, they are not something that can be discussed.
The management of the team, on the other hand, will hold out hope that the outcomes will not be quite so catastrophic in terms of their own plans this time around.
ITINERARY
One-off test at Mirpur from the 14th to the 18th of June.
The first one-day international will be played at Chattogram on July 5.
The second One-Day International match is scheduled to take place at Chattogram on July 8.
On July 11, the third One-Day International will take place in Chattogram.
The first T20I was held in Sylhet on July 14.
On July 16, the 2nd T20I will be held at Sylhet.