|| CF Correspondent ||

Bangladesh opted to have some sort of similarities in both Test and ODIs against West Indies in the ongoing home-series, scheduled at different venues of the country.

While in Tests, the Tigers went with four spinners, in ODIs, they went with four regular openers in the first game of the three-match series against the visitors, played on December 9.

The form of the top-order seemed enough for the team management to go through some selection dilemma as only three among the quartet – Liton Kumar Das, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, and Soumya Sarkar – looked to be the front-runners for a spot in the playing XI under normal circumstances, as they had Mohammad Mithun in the middle-order with some runs under his belt.

But it took everyone by surprise when all four openers were named in the XI and that too at the expense of Mithun despite there was no valid reason behind his omission.

Tamim Iqbal occupied his usual spot at the top of the order upon his return from injury, with Liton Das to partner him. Bangladesh also went in with Imrul Kayes, who batted at number, while Soumya Sarkar – another regular opener – was pushed down to number 6.

According to skipper Mashrafe Mortaza, they opted for Soumya’s ahead of Mithun due to his ability to bat at different positions and also considered the dew factor that could have forced him to ask Soumya to bowl a few overs of gentle medium pace.

“We took four openers as Soumya is someone who can bat down the order. It was tough to drop Mithun as he was batting well recently but we picked Soumya as Shakib came down at number five. The other thing is that if there is some dew, Soumya can bowl a few overs (of medium pace), if the spinners find it difficult to grip the ball. Soumya also has the ability to play some shots down the order, though I am not saying Mithun does not have that,” said Mashrafe.