Who to cover for Mushy?

Mushfiqur Rahim kept wickets for 35 overs in the first Test against Pakistan before leaving the field with extreme pain after dropping a catch in a bizarre fashion off pacer Mohammad Shahid.

Mushfiqur, who had also dropped another catch off Shakib Al Hasan earlier, injured his right hand's ring finger on the second day of the Test in Khulna.

Interestingly, when the Bangladesh captain left the field, there was a bit of confusion in the middle with regards to Mushfiqur's substitute. There was not a single player with a history of keeping wickets even in domestic games. Or, may be there was one with some credential but that player wished not to be exposed.

We all know Tigers opener Imrul Kayes volunteered to keep the wicket for an amazing 120 overs before making a request to Mahmudullah Riyad to take over for the remaining 14 odd overs of a long Pakistan first innings that lasted 186.4 overs, spanning over two days.

Luckily, there was no edge for Imrul to take and for Mahmudullah, it was a phase  he will laughingly remember: a stumping, not with his gloves but with his left thigh pad.

But the whole episode without a decent replacement for injured Mushfiqur was not an inspiring scenario for the Tigers despite the fact that the team spirit worked well for them in a match where Tamim Iqbal and Imrul produced a historic 312-run opening stand in the second innings to win a draw from the jaws of defeat.

When Mushfiqur was injured last time in a Test match at Chittagong against Sri Lanka in 2014, Shamsur Rahman, a part time-keeper, stood behind the wicket. But in Khulna there was not even a back-up plan in case of an injury to Mushfiqur.

Litton Das, a member of the14-man Test squad, was in Khulna with the team but it's not a classic case of 1986 when England fielded a record four wicketkeepers at Lord's against New Zealand including Bob Taylor, who briefly came out of retirement to keep wickets following the consent of the opposition skipper.

Wicket-keeping is a specialised job, and what happened in Khulna is certainly not desirable. Besides, it's also not wise not to think beyond Mushfiqur, who is the one of the best batsman of the country. But when it comes to keeping he leaves a lot to be desired. With the Tigers going through a purple patch, we may still live with that. But this is certainly not professional thinking for a very professional team.