Time to dig deep in tough Test

Among all the teams in Test cricket today, the home and away contrast in ability and expectation is possibly sharpest in Bangladesh's case. Statistics do not do that phenomenon justice -- four matches won away out of a total of 10 Test wins may hint at an evener keel than most, but close followers of Bangladesh cricket will know that most of the improvement that the world talks about has been achieved at home, with the victory in the 100th Test in Colombo being the exception. Away, and especially overseas, that improvement has not yet translated into results.

In the endeavour to prove that their newfound home prowess translates to meaningful performances in alien conditions, the Tigers embark upon arguably the toughest cricketing assignment for an Asian team with the first Test against South Africa at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom today at 2:00pm Bangladesh time.

A sobering reminder of Bangladesh's greenness when playing away from home is that before Colombo in March, Bangladesh were on a streak of six straight away losses going back to the 2014 tour of West Indies. Creditable performances in New Zealand and India this year ended in losses. If further dampeners be needed, Shakib Al Hasan, the single-most influential cricketer for Bangladesh and a two-in-one with his ability with bat and ball, will not be among the 11 Tigers who square off against the number two-ranked Test team in the world.

And, last but not the least, for subcontinent batsmen bred on slow and low pitches, the pace and bounce of South Africa is possibly the only true nightmare left in a cricketing world where pitches from West Indies to New Zealand have begun to resemble each other more and more. One more? Both openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar have recently been injured, and the latter is still a doubtful starter.

Those are the scary prefaces that Bangladesh supporters should be equipped with over the coming days in order to manage expectations. But sport has a funny way of usurping forecasts, and the silver lining in this dark cloud is that this Bangladesh side has shown the ability to lend sport a helping hand in that regard. They have a manner of finding opportunity in adversity, as head coach Chandika Hathurusingha's words illustrated yesterday.

“For any team team South Africa is a big challenge, because they are one of the most consistent and arguably the best teams in world cricket for the last 10 years,” the Sri Lankan said in the pre-match press conference. “It's going to be a challenge for subcontinent teams, but that's what you play cricket for. If you want to play South Africa, this is the best time to play -- a new coach, a few injured players.”

The new coach is Ottis Gibson, who joined the team for the new season after the Proteas' 2-1 away loss to England earlier this year. The injured players are lethal pacers Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander. South Africa may just be a team smarting from a batting failure in England. That is a mixed blessing as they will be looking to make a big statement under a new coach against a team ranked seven places below them, and to be fair the pacers still in the squad like Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada will not be providing much respite.

Home skipper Faf du Plessis had no problem in announcing in his press conference that they asked for a pitch with pace and bounce. However, he was hopeful rather than expectant that their deans will be met as Potchefstroom is not a regular Test venue -- in fact, the only other Test played here was in 2002 featuring the same teams, with Bangladesh being rolled over for 215 and 160 in an innings and 60-run defeat. He hinted that it looked like a good batting surface, as did Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim later, but what may be a good batting wicket for South Africa may be a hostile, pacey one for Bangladesh.

For Bangladesh, given that Soumya overcomes his stiff shoulder in time for the toss today, the batting lineup will look much the same as against Australia in the recent home series, with the obvious change being Mahmudullah Riyad coming back to fill the gaping hole left by Shakib. If Soumya does not make it, wicketkeeper batsman Liton Das may come back in and may cause a rejig of the batting order, with Mushfiqur relinquishing the gloves and batting higher up the order.

Otherwise, the big changes will likely come in the bowling line-up. The last Test against Australia was played with Mustafizur Rahman being the solitary bowler, but today he will likely be joined by at least two of Shafiul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain and Subhasish Roy. If recent trends continue, the two will likely be Taskin and Shafiul. That leaves space for one spinner, and Mehedi Hasan Miraz's batting skills will probably tip the balance in his favour at the expense of Taijul Islam.

As the rankings suggest, South Africa's prowess may prove too much for the Tigers, and the toss will be a crucial factor, but the Tigers will know that the one thing their supporters will be looking for when it comes to an away Test is that they fight, and like their poor away record there is enough evidence to suggest that they will do that.