Everything was settled.
At least from the outside, Bangladesh’s Test side looked as complete as it had ever been. Riding on impressive performances over the past year, the Tigers were preparing for one of their biggest overseas assignments in recent history—a two-Test series against mighty Australia, their first on Australian soil in 23 years.
Then Zimbabwe happened.
What was meant to be the final phase of preparation instead turned into a nightmare. Bangladesh lost their fastest bowler, Nahid Rana, to a side strain, while left-arm seamer Shoriful Islam also picked up a hamstring injury that will keep him out of the opening Test. Wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das, already battling a calf injury, also failed to recover in time for the series opener.
The excitement surrounding the Tigers’ most settled Test squad has quickly been replaced by concern. Instead of dreaming about making history Down Under, the immediate objective has become far more modest.
“Respect,” Bangladesh Cricket Board’s chief selector Habibul Bashar Sumon replied after a brief pause when asked what their target should be in Australia at a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Monday.
“We want to come back having earned respect,” he hoped.
The selectors were forced to delay naming the squad until the last possible moment, hoping at least some of the injured players would recuperate in time.
“We actually wanted to announce the squad almost weeks ago,” Bashar noted.
“We have separate squads for the three formats—T20s, One Day Internationals and Tests. The Test side is probably our most settled team. They have been playing well over the last few series, and we were all very excited about this series. Not only because we are returning to Australia after a long time, but also because Australia are such a strong side in their own conditions. We felt our team was in exactly the kind of shape and preparation needed to compete against them,” he explained.
“From there, when the setbacks came—especially due to injuries—it became really challenging. We had to wait until the very last moment. We were hoping that, even if some of our key players could not play both Tests, they might at least be available for one,” he added.
Among those absentees, none hurts more than Rana.
Bashar described the 23-year-old as a genuinely special fast bowler, placing him in elite company because of his ability to consistently bowl at extreme pace.
“If you look at world cricket, there is a gap between Nahid Rana and most other fast bowlers. Probably Nahid Rana and Mitchell Starc are among the few bowlers who consistently bowl at extremely high pace. They are extraordinary bowlers. It is not just us—I think the entire cricket world is excited by Nahid Rana. Missing him is obviously a huge blow for us,” he stated.
Even so, the chief selector insisted that Bangladesh can’t afford to dwell on what they have lost.
“You probably cannot understand Nahid Rana’s disappointment. Nahid Rana is a special bowler. He would be a sensation in any Test team. But when he is unavailable, we have to move on,” he said.
The former Bangladesh captain also stood firmly behind the medical department over gloveman Litton’s prolonged injury, rejecting suggestions that the batter’s rehabilitation had been mishandled.
“I can’t really blame the medical department here, because when the scans came in, they showed the same thing that was initially found. Somehow Litton’s pain wasn’t going away. Even when we did further assessment here, nothing new came up,” he said.
He revealed that repeated scans failed to detect any fresh tear before the latest assessment in Singapore identified swelling rather than structural damage.
With Rana and Litton unavailable and Shoriful sidelined for the opening Test, Bangladesh will now rely on the experience of Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud to lead the pace attack, alongside Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain and uncapped Musfik Hasan.
Bashar believes that the remaining bowlers have already shown that they can shoulder responsibility.
“When we beat Pakistan in Pakistan, Hasan Mahmud was our main bowler and bowled exceptionally well. We still have Hasan Mahmud, and we also have Taskin Ahmed. Taskin is a fantastic bowler when he is fit. Hasan has shown what he can do, while Khaled and Ebadot have also performed in the past,” he said.
“There will always be regret over Nahid’s absence, but we do not want to dwell on it anymore. We want to look ahead,” he concluded.
