Farooqi threat looms over Tigers’ left-handed top-order

If you are a left-handed top-order Bangladesh batter, you would not like the sight of Afghanistan's left-handed pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi steaming in at you with the new ball.

Just ask former ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal – Bangladesh's highest run-getter in the format – who was tormented and humbled down to the ground by Farooqi in a three-match series in Chattogram in 2022. Farooqi dismissed Tamim in all three matches and the southpaw, who was trapped lbw twice and castled once, had no answer to what Farooqi was dishing out.

Tamim won't be playing the upcoming three-match series against Afghanistan, starting on Wednesday in the UAE, but that does not mean that Farooqi won't be licking his lips as he gears up to wreak havoc when taking on Bangladesh, who have four left-handed top-order batters in their squad, three of whom are expected to play.

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Let's look at what Farooqi's key strengths are with the new ball. The 24-year-old is an expert at swinging the ball both ways, particularly at nipping it off the surface. It's not like he can conjure up extravagant swing but he deals expertly at extracting the minimal assistance on offer. Add that up with his ability to keep it accurate and you have a solid option to rattle oppositions in the Powerplay – all of which along with his death-bowling prowess he used to great effect in the T20 World Cup earlier this year when he topped the wicket-takers' charts with 17 wickets.

Now, the current top-order Bangladesh lot – Soumya Sarker, Tanzid Tamim, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Zakir Hasan - is allergic to whatever Farooqi brings to the table. They are not only prone to being asphyxiated against Farooqi's skillset but are also at risk of an anaphylactic shock, meaning a full-on top-order meltdown while trying to wriggle out of difficult situations – a trademark coping mechanism for the Tigers when under the pump.

In the eight matches he has played against Bangladesh so far, Farooqi has taken 15 wickets at an economy rate of 4.84. He averages 19.33 against the Tigers -- his best against an opposition he played at least three times. And of the 15 wickets, seven were left-handed scalps.

Given the current form of Bangladesh's top-order across formats or their overall batting form in general, the candidates selected for the Afghanistan series do very little to evoke a sense of confidence. One can never know what to expect from Soumya, who has already played international cricket for almost 10 years. Skipper Shanto has been under fire for his abysmal form in the other formats and Zakir's glaring weakness against strict lines and lengths in recent red-ball contests does not help the Tigers either. Tanzid is different in that regard as he shares little of those similar weaknesses but has largely blown hot and cold.

The silver lining to this has most definitely got to be the Sharjah Cricket Ground – the venue for all three ODIs – as it has aided batters in recent contests. In the eight matches played at the venue since 2022, the average first innings score is 300.