West Indies chase redemption against red-hot Bangladesh

Overview:

Bangladesh v West Indies, 1st Test
Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram
Wed, 3 Feb to Sun, 7 Feb 2021; 09:30am local time

With the pandemic forcing fixtures across all sports to be shuffled last year, Wednesday’s series opener will be the first Test Bangladesh have played since February 2020 – a match they won by an innings and 106 runs against Zimbabwe.

Despite the lack of match practice, as the home side, they have reason to be confident going into the first Test in Chittagong. They have won four of their past five Tests at home, with two of those victories coming against the West Indies in 2018.

In a major boost to their hopes, Bangladesh look set to have the services of Shakib Al Hasan. The all-rounder suffered a groin injury in the final ODI against the West Indies but was still named in their 18-man Test squad. If he plays, it will be his first Test since September 2019.

Among the game’s finest all-rounders, Shakib averages 39.40 with the bat and 31.12 with the ball. He goes into this series in strong form as well, having taken out Player-of-the-Series honours in the ODI campaign against the West Indies.

The touring side is without regular captain Jason Holder, with the all-rounder opting out of the series alongside Test incumbents Roston Chase, Darren Bravo and Shamarh Brooks due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

Holder's sizable presence will be missed by the tourists. Sitting second on the Test all-rounder rankings, he has averaged 37.37 with the bat and 19.04 with the ball since the start of 2018.

Suffice to say, stand-in captain Kraigg Brathwaite has big shoes to fill.

The good news for the West Indies is that Brathwaite was among several key men to impress in a warm-up match against the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI (BCB XI) that finished on Sunday (31 January).

Brathwaite scored a first-innings 85 in a total of 257 before sitting out the second innings. Opening partner John Campbell (44 and 68) also posted scores of note in both innings.

Wicket-keeper Joshua Da Silva (20 and 46) impressed in the second innings, while all-rounder Raymon Reifer bolstered his hopes of selection with contributions of 49 not out with the bat and 2/7 with the ball.

Crucially, spinners Rahkeem Cornwall (5/47) and Jomel Warrican (3/25) were both in the thick of the action, sharing eight wickets to helps the West Indians bowl BCB XI out for 160 in their first innings.

Fixtures (all times local):

First Test:February 3 to February 7, 9:30am at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong

Second Test: February 11 to February 15, 9:30am at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur

Players to look out for:

**Shakib Al Hasan –**It goes without saying that Shakib will be a key man for Bangladesh. No one has taken more Test wickets for the nation than his 210 and only Mushfiqur Rahim (4413 at 36.77) and Tamim Iqbal (4405 at 38.64) have more runs in the format for Bangladesh than his 3862.

The all-rounder has never scored a Test century against the West Indies but averages a healthy 43.82 against them so don’t be surprised if he opens his account this series. He has been a menace with the ball against the Caribbean team, taking 46 wickets across just 10 Tests, with three five-wicket hauls and an average of 24.19.

He was in ominous form with the bat (113 runs at 56.50) and ball (six wickets at 8.33) in last month’s ODIs.

Jermaine Blackwood– Blackwood posted scores of 9 and 4 in the warm-up match against the BCB XI, but the West Indies will be hoping for big things from the right-hander this series.

Blackwood has been the West Indies’ top run-scorer in each of their past two series, scoring 216 runs at 54.00 across two Tests against New Zealand and 211 at 35.16 across three against England.

Those were two series played away from home in difficult seaming conditions for the batsmen. Bangladesh's turning tracks will offer a very different challenge but he goes into the series in good touch after ending a four-and-a-half-year run without a Test ton with his second innings 104 in Hamilton.

It was just his second Test ton to go alongside 13 half-centuries and he is hopeful he has unlocked the keys to consistent success after seeking the advice of India’s Virat Kohli.

“I asked him about how all the time that I have a lot of half-centuries and one century,” Blackwood was quoted onCricbuzz. “He just said, what will you do when you score a century, how many deliveries did you face? I said I faced 212 balls. He said, that's it, once you can bat some balls, you're gonna score runs.

''So, I took a big thing from that. After that conversation, I tell myself that once I can bat over 200 or 300 balls, the way I bat, I can score runs regardless of who I am playing against or where I am playing.”

Remember the last time:

Bangladesh hosted the West Indies in a two-Test series in late 2018 and won both matches.

The hosts were in the ascendancy early in the first match at Chattogram, as a dashing century from Mominul Haque (120) took them to a first-innings total of 324 before they bowled the West Indies out for 246 in reply.

Things happened quickly from there as Bangladesh were bowled out for 125 in their second innings and had the West Indies teetering at 75/8 in a chase of 204 on day three. A 63-run ninth-wicket stand gave the tourists hopes of a miracle victory but ultimately Sunil Ambris’ 43 and No.10 Warrican’s 41 went in vain as the West Indies crumbled to a 64-run loss.

The second Test was a far more comprehensive victory for Bangladesh, with a Mahmudullah ton (136) taking them to a first-innings total of 508. They would only need to bat once as the West Indies were knocked over for 111 in their first innings and 213 in their second, with Mehidy Hasan taking match figures of 12/117.