Tigers faced with last-minute test

The Bangladesh squad are now faced with a test at the eleventh hour before they open their World Cup campaign with a high-pressure match against South Africa at The Oval in London tomorrow. The test is a stern one as it involves perhaps the most important player in their batting line-up -- opener Tamim Iqbal. During practice at The Oval yesterday, Tamim sustained a painful blow to his left wrist while batting in the nets, but fortunately for the Tigers, an X-Ray later yesterday revealed no fracture.

Despite Tamim leaving the nets immediately to be assessed by physio Thihan Chandramohan, team manager Khaled Mahmud said within the hour that Tamim was feeling okay and that he did not think an X-Ray was needed. The team management however did send the left-hander for an X-Ray as a precautionary measure. The left-hander will be assessed further by the physio today, after which it will be decided whether he would need to go for further scans to determine his availability for tomorrow’s match.

There were other injuries too -- skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has been struggling with his hamstring since the warm-up match against India on Tuesday, but it is expected that the hardy Narail Express will play through the pain. Mohammad

Saifuddin and Mustafizur Rahman are also nursing niggles, with the former’s more serious as the all-rounder did not partake in practice yesterday. Mustafizur, however, looked in better shape as he was bowling at the nets in his usual fashion. A lot will depend on how Mustafizur and Saifuddin turn up at today’s practice.

Despite these concerns, Bangladesh’s practice session was conducted in good spirits yesterday, which bowling coach Courtney Walsh commented upon, saying that the body language were good and that the team were in ‘a good place’.

While Bangladesh were dealt a harsh hand by the eleventh-hour injury scares they may be in for some good fortune in the surface that they will play on tomorrow. It will be the same one used for the opening game between England and South Africa on Thursday, and while it was in no way a bad friend to willow wielders, it was a touch slow and offered a bit of turn. With specialist spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Mehedi Hasan Miraz in the side and South Africa’s well-known weakness against spin, the Tigers will fancy their chances of getting their campaign off to a winning start.

A slower than average surface will also aid their batsmen, as their natural game is to build towards a competitive total rather than be explosive throughout, which South Africa failed trying to do on Thursday when they left 61 deliveries unused in their innings of 2017 all out. If the pitch continues in the same fashion, it will be an unexpected favour conferred to the Tigers as the expectation was for true belters throughout the tournament, especially in the early stages. 

However, the good mood and prospects may all hinge on how the scan on Tamim’s hand turns out as they will need their premier batsman fit to solidify any advantage the conditions hand them tomorrow.