Time to promote Miraz up the order?

In Test cricket, Bangladesh have always blazed their own trail, usually down the wrong path, and followed processes that would beget blank stares and stunned looks in most other teams.

For example, in the ongoing cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC), Bangladesh are the only team whose highest run-scorer comes out to bat at number seven or lower in the batting lineup.

Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Bangladesh's current crisis man in red-ball cricket, has accumulated 554 runs in 16 innings in the ongoing WTC cycle, 76 runs more than second-best Mominul Haque, and he has done so while batting eight times at number eight, six times at number seven and twice at number nine.
The all-rounder has also claimed 34 wickets in this period, most by a Bangladeshi, and is currently the only player with more than 500 runs and over 30 wickets in the 2023-25 WTC cycle.

Despite his growing credentials as a Test batter, Miraz is seemingly still not viewed as a proper all-rounder, a tendency that came to fore in the first Test against South Africa in Mirpur, which the hosts lost by seven wickets on Thursday.

In that match, the management were thrown a curve ball when Shakib Al Hasan was unable to return. The plan was to tangle the Proteas in a spin trap and to do so, having a three-pronged spin attack seemed crucial. Hence off-spinner Nayeem Hasan was brought in.

But the management seemingly could not fully depend on Miraz's abilities as a batter. So, instead of picking a couple of pacers to form a well-rounded attack, they opted to add another batter in Jaker Ali Anik. This, in hindsight, turned out to be a massive blunder, as in contrast, both the Proteas pacers relished bowling on the Mirpur surface which had something on offer throughout the match, especially Kagiso Rabada, who picked up nine wickets, most by any bowler from either side.

Miraz once again emerged as Bangladesh's crisis man, hitting a valiant 97 in the second innings, a knock that helped the hosts avoid an innings defeat. He had similarly rescued the team from tough situations in the Pakistan tour in August and hit half-centuries in the home Test series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka last year.

After so many rescue acts, Miraz, who has batted above number seven only thrice in 87 Test innings, deserves a chance higher up the order, feels BCB coach Mizanur Rahman Babul.

"In age-level cricket, he was always a proper middle-order batter. The biggest thing about Miraz is he always scores runs in crisis situations. The way he is batting right now, he definitely has a case to bat higher up the order," said Babul, who has worked with Miraz since his Under-17 days.