From the time India last toured Bangladesh (2015), the hosts have achieved memorable Test wins against England and Australia. And in each of those, their spinners were the architects. (Twitter/BCCI)
In many ways, Test cricket in Bangladesh is almost like a throwback to the 1990s era in India. Bereft of fast bowlers, they depend a lot on spinners to get the job done on black soil pitches which tend to be on the slower side. Touring sides don’t need to think a lot about what to expect in Bangladesh. You get what you expect, but once on the field, it doesn’t get any easier for the opposition.
Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam and Shakib Al Hasan may not have the guile and mastery of Ravichandran Ashwin, Nathan Lyons or Ravindra Jadeja. Neither are they in the mould of their predecessors Mohammad Rafique and Abdur Razzak, operating within limitations. Instead the trio possess the right armoury to ace the conditions, which are not the easiest to adapt to. Despite having a crowded pool of spinners – especially of the left-arm variety – they are still a bit old-school in the sense that there is no mystery to any of them.
But ask any touring batsmen what it is to face the Bangladesh spinners. Over after over, with crowded men around and a talkative wicketkeeper – be it Mushfiqur Rahim or Nurul Hasan – who resorts to an exaggerated reaction every time a batsman chooses to let go a delivery that is close to the stumps or when one of them gets just the right amount of turn to take the ball away from the bat, they can hear the decibel levels rise around them. (READ MORE)
