A lot of injury questions for Bangladesh with a little over a week to go. The franchise based FC tournament starts tomorrow and the national teamers will get to play 1 game before they fly off to PAK. Shakib is of course banned, and Mushfiq's family would not allow him to tour PAK, so two of Bangladesh's biggest players are already out. Huge loss, but great opportunity to try some younger players - if the selectors make the right pick instead of giving hacks like Mohammad Mithun a 50th chance. Shadman also likely to miss the 1st Test, along with Imrul Kayes. Mossadek may also be injured since his name wasn't on any of the BCL squad lists and his official facebook page has him posting pics in his hometime instead of at traning camp.
My preferred squad (guys not in the current selection radar will be in parentheses):
1) Tamim
2) Saif
3) Mominul
4) Mosaddek
5) Mahmudullah
6) Liton (Nurul)
7) Miraz
8) Nayeem
9) Taijul
10) Abu Jayed
11) Ebadat
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
He was the best seamer in the pink ball test against India IIRC
That was a fluke bowling performance. This is a red ball series. Al Amin is on the bench, where he belongs. Unfortunately, Rubel Hossain also belongs on the bench but is playing.
Jayed has been our best seamer the past 18 months, and Ebadat bowled with control and a brisk pace in India as well. I would rather give more chances to Ebadat than Al Amin, who's 130 kph bowling is limited in terms of what he offers IMO.
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230 is a woefully underpar score on what looks to be a 400 wicket. We will have to play out of our skins to keep Pakistan to anything around 375.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
233 all out. Highest total by BD in a long time. With Tamim, Mominul, and Riyad - the only recognized batsmen at this level - only combining for 58 runs, its a minor miracle that BD made it to triple figures.
Your mate Mithun doing the bulk of the scoring
Just proves how flat the wicket is :D
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Probably. Rubel has the worst average in the history of Tests to have played 30 matches or something. He is atrocious. This pitch is supposedly a greentop - looks brown to me, so I'd rather have selected Nayeem the spinner over a 3rd seamer when your options are Al Amin and Rubel. If someone like Khaled or Shoriful or even perhaps Taskin was available, 3 seamers would have made sense.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
PAK bowling was OK. Nothing spectacular on a fairly docile pitch. Afridi to me was the pick of the bowlers, bowled at good pace and looked threatening. Abbas is just a military medium who nibbles the ball off the pitch a la Philander. Naseem to me seems just pace at this point in time. I would rate a 17 year old Mohammad Amir way ahead of a 17 yo Naseem.
For Bangladesh, Tamim played the wrong line and got an lbw. Only spent 3 balls at the crease so can't say anything except that I expect he will play himself into form over the course of this little season of 3 Tests that we have. Debutant Saif got out chasing a very wide ball. Shanto looked to be the best of the batters...he was solid, drove elegantly through the covers, and swept Yasir with the spin effectively. Mominul got off to a nervy and ugly start, but was growing in confidence until a lapse in judgement cost him his wicket. Mithun scored the runs, and looked OK from what I saw. Not a fan of his at all. Riyad got out in much the same fashion as Saif and Mominul, attempting to drive a ball that wouldn't have even hit a 6th stump. Bangladesh is perhaps one of the only sides to field 3-4 genuine number elevens, lol. Taijul perhaps would be a #10 in any other batting lineup but he stuck it out for 72 balls so kudos to him. But Taijul and Mithun kinda prove how flat this pitch is...if they can score runs on it, just about anyone can.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
PAK bowling was OK. Nothing spectacular on a fairly docile pitch. Afridi to me was the pick of the bowlers, bowled at good pace and looked threatening. Abbas is just a military medium who nibbles the ball off the pitch a la Philander. Naseem to me seems just pace at this point in time. I would rate a 17 year old Mohammad Amir way ahead of a 17 yo Naseem.
For Bangladesh, Tamim played the wrong line and got an lbw. Only spent 3 balls at the crease so can't say anything except that I expect he will play himself into form over the course of this little season of 3 Tests that we have. Debutant Saif got out chasing a very wide ball. Shanto looked to be the best of the batters...he was solid, drove elegantly through the covers, and swept Yasir with the spin effectively. Mominul got off to a nervy and ugly start, but was growing in confidence until a lapse in judgement cost him his wicket. Mithun scored the runs, and looked OK from what I saw. Not a fan of his at all. Riyad got out in much the same fashion as Saif and Mominul, attempting to drive a ball that wouldn't have even hit a 6th stump. Bangladesh is perhaps one of the only sides to field 3-4 genuine number elevens, lol. Taijul perhaps would be a #10 in any other batting lineup but he stuck it out for 72 balls so kudos to him. But Taijul and Mithun kinda prove how flat this pitch is...if they can score runs on it, just about anyone can.
PAK bowling was OK. Nothing spectacular on a fairly docile pitch. Afridi to me was the pick of the bowlers, bowled at good pace and looked threatening. Abbas is just a military medium who nibbles the ball off the pitch a la Philander. Naseem to me seems just pace at this point in time. I would rate a 17 year old Mohammad Amir way ahead of a 17 yo Naseem.
For Bangladesh, Tamim played the wrong line and got an lbw. Only spent 3 balls at the crease so can't say anything except that I expect he will play himself into form over the course of this little season of 3 Tests that we have. Debutant Saif got out chasing a very wide ball. Shanto looked to be the best of the batters...he was solid, drove elegantly through the covers, and swept Yasir with the spin effectively. Mominul got off to a nervy and ugly start, but was growing in confidence until a lapse in judgement cost him his wicket. Mithun scored the runs, and looked OK from what I saw. Not a fan of his at all. Riyad got out in much the same fashion as Saif and Mominul, attempting to drive a ball that wouldn't have even hit a 6th stump. Bangladesh is perhaps one of the only sides to field 3-4 genuine number elevens, lol. Taijul perhaps would be a #10 in any other batting lineup but he stuck it out for 72 balls so kudos to him. But Taijul and Mithun kinda prove how flat this pitch is...if they can score runs on it, just about anyone can.
Link ?
I have Sling TV and get Willow through them. Costs $1 more per month over Willow's direct subscription, but has advantages (I can record up to 10 hours of content with their built in DVR, as long as a match is still live, you can rewind, ffw their feed to any point in the stream). Has disadvantages too (no highlights package) but I rarely watched highlights anyways. So I haven't used links since 2015.
Forgot to add above that Pakistan's fielding was really good. They took a few really good catches, reviewed 3 not outs and won the review each time (excellent captaincy and game awareness).
95-2 at lunch with Babar at the crease now. We need him cheaply of course as PAK are dominating, as expected. Abu Jayed is really a 1 man bowling attack. He's only bowling 125-128 but has 2 wickets. Ebadat clocked one up to 145.6 in his first over but leaking runs. Ebadat needs to sort his bowling out after lunch.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Babar punishing BD on what is a very typically flat subcontinent track.
Jayed and Taijul have bowled well given the conditions, Jayed the pick of the bowler so far. Ebadat has been spraying it all over the place. He needs to focus on just two things IMO: attack the stumps to take advantage of his pace and if that doesn't work, needs to switch to bowling in a channel outside off at a good length to keep the runs in check.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
The Ebadat chance was a tough one. 3 out of 4 times that would get dropped by an average fielder. Of course it would be a relatively easy catch for a gun fielder.
BD finally winning a session taking 4 for 78 there. Ebadat bowled quite well. After 11 overs was going at nearly 6 an over. Now his econ is under 4 meaning he's been going at a shade over 2 today.
PAK will be getting something around 450. Will be a steep battle for BD to push this game much further than day 4. They will have to bat a minimum of 5 sessions and score runs at a decent rate. 150 overs at 2.8 an over will only set PAK a target of 180 or so to get from 60 overs. Of course Bangladesh may very well crash to an innings defeat as well.
Personally I would like to see more intent and application from the batters. The kind we haven't seen in a couple of years.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Yeah BD were looking good at 120 odd for 2. But our tail starts once we are 4 down. If we can avoid an innings defeat, we will have done as well as SL did, with 3 our better players missing (Shakib, Mushy, Mosaddek).
Nazmul has done enough to get some more chances...hes only 21 and his technique looks quite good. But Mithun is terrible player. If Liton doesnt hit a 50, he needs to go as well. Played so many games yet still averages 25.
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D+ for Mithun, only Mahmudullah got a worse rating, despite Mithun getting the only 50+ score?
Tamim shouldn't have been rusty he just scored 300
Mithun is 28 and averages under 35 in first class cricket and under 25 in all internationals. His 50 on that pitch is meaningless. You had to see his hoick against Yasir when BD were collapsing. That hoick is typical Mithun, the 50 is an anomaly rendering it irrelevant.
Mithun scored 63 runs in 2 innings on a 400 wicket. The highest you could give anyone for that is a C.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
D+ for Mithun, only Mahmudullah got a worse rating, despite Mithun getting the only 50+ score?
Tamim shouldn't have been rusty he just scored 300
Mithun is 28 and averages under 35 in first class cricket and under 25 in all internationals. His 50 on that pitch is meaningless. You had to see his hoick against Yasir when BD were collapsing. That hoick is typical Mithun, the 50 is an anomaly rendering it irrelevant.
Mithun scored 63 runs in 2 innings on a 400 wicket. The highest you could give anyone for that is a C.
Mahmudullah got a worse grade. Deservedly so. Saif is a debutant. Tamim is undroppable, he's not getting a grade worse than Mithun because his Test average is higher than Mithun's domestic FC average.
Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
Mahmudullah got a worse grade. Deservedly so. Saif is a debutant. Tamim is undroppable, he's not getting a grade worse than Mithun because his Test average is higher than Mithun's domestic FC average.
Isn’t it a match rating out of 10? Past performances shouldn’t have any influence