Can Bijoy carry his DPL charm to Caribbean?
Bangladesh's top order batting meltdown has remained the biggest cause of concern for the team management and the latest batting failure meant the visitors had to suffer a convincing seven-wicket defeat against West Indies in the first Test of the two-match series in Antigua.
Bangladesh became the first side in Test cricket's vast history to have six of their batters depart for naught in consecutive Tests as the Antigua Test saw the Tigers get bundled out for 103 in their first innings. The visitors continued their poor run in the second innings as well and were six down before fifty on the board, ultimately all out for 245.
In their last five Tests, Bangladesh lost their top five batters inside fifty or less runs on five occasions. Now, after repeated batting malfunction, there are high chances the team management will come up with a few changes on the batting front for the second Test, scheduled to begin from June 24 in St Lucia.
One of the likely ones could be Anamul Haque Bijoy, the wicketkeeper-batter who was initially included for the upcoming white-ball series against the Windies. Anamul was rewarded with a return to the national camp based on the brilliant run of form he displayed in the Dhaka Premier League (DPL)– a fifty-over competition -- earlier this year.
Anamul's dreamlike season in the DPL saw him turn into a run machine. A staggering 1138 runs made him a world-record holder too as he beat Tom Moody's record of scoring 917 runs, which the Australian had set for Worcestershire in 1991.
The wicketkeeper-batter, who opened the innings for Prime Bank in the DPL, had struck a total of three hundreds and nine fifties with a whopping average of 81.28, prompting the selectors to include him for the three-match ODI and three-match T20I series in the Caribbean.
However, Anamul was also included in the Test side as the replacement of middle order batter Yasir Ali, who was ruled out after having sustained a back injury during the three-day practice game ahead of the Test series.
"Good to join the Test team after a long time. Since there are some days left before the second Test, I will try to prepare myself well," said Anamul, who played his last Test eight years back in 2014 against West Indies.
"And if I get an opportunity I will try to give my best. Looking forward to the second Test."
Now, it will be interesting to see if Anamul finds his way into the playing eleven in Saint Lucia. And even if he does, which position would he bat? There are high chances the right-hander may replace Najmul Hossain Shanto after the lefty had failed to make an impact at the crucial number three position in recent times.
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