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Bangladesh are a genuine chance of upsetting Australia in the two-Test series which starts on Sunday, but such a boilover will rest heavily on the shoulders of four players.
That key group is spinning all-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan, teenage off spinner Mehedi Hasan, combative keeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, and aggressive opener Tamim Iqbal.
While pace prodigy Mustafizur Rahman is on his way to becoming the highest-profile Bangladeshi player thanks to his T20 exploits, spin duo Mehedi and Shakib pose the far greater threat.
On the batting front, Bangladesh’s top order will be challenged by the precision of Josh Hazlewood and the brute force of Pat Cummins. The home side’s middle order is decidedly vulnerable when exposed to the newer ball, but Iqbal has the talent to prevent Australia’s quicks from running amok in the first ten to 15 overs.
Mushfiqur is a key member of that middle order and, as the captain and most capped member of the team, he also has a crucial role to play in keeping his side steady psychologically.
Amid the great strides Bangladesh have made as a cricketing nation, they have maintained a tendency to run flaming hot or Arctic cold. Of course, the same could be said of higher-ranked teams, like Australia and England. But Bangladesh do have a history of letting match-winning positions dissolve swiftly more often than Australia or England.
They don’t have the winning history of the established nations and, perhaps as a result, they are quicker to doubt themselves and less able to complete the final path to victory. Too often they seem to choke when a win is within reach.
Mushfiqur will need to prevent his side from either rising too high or dipping too low emotionally in what they will see as a momentous series. Finding a greater equilibrium is one of the key hurdles Bangladesh must clear if they are to better exploit their considerable talent.
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Mushfiqur also must lead by example with the blade. He is well placed to do so amid the greatest form spike of his 54-Test career. The 30-year-old has had an incredible year so far, plundering 515 runs at 86 from four Tests, including two tons away from home – 159 against New Zealand in Wellington, followed by 127 against India in Hyderabad.
Mushfiqur is renowned as a fine player of spin. In New Zealand, he showed that he is also fluent against pace as he flayed a strong Kiwi pace attack of Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Tim Southee. Yet he was upstaged in that same innings by Bangladesh’s best player. Shakib toyed with the Kiwis en route to 217 from just 276 balls. He and Mushfiqur put on a monstrous stand of 359.
Shakib is currently the closest thing in Test cricket to a genuine all-rounder – a cricketer who could gain selection as either a specialist batsman or a bowler. He has bowling stats almost identical to Australia’s number one spinner, Nathan Lyon, while also averaging 41 with the bat.
If not for Bangladesh’s lack of profile, and the fact they play so few Tests, Shakib would be feted as one of the true superstars of Test cricket, alongside the likes of Steve Smith, Ravi Ashwin, Joe Root and Virat Kohli. Batting in the middle order, Shakib has averaged 50 with the bat over his past 26 Tests, stretching back to October 2011.
Shakib and Mushfiqur are the middle order assets that must be protected from early exposure. If that pair come to the crease against a weathered ball, they can bat Bangladesh into commanding positions. But that relies heavily on the efforts of Iqbal at the top of the order.
Bangladesh’s all-time leading runscorer in Tests, Iqbal starred last year against England, making 231 runs at 58 in what was a low-scoring two-Test series. Iqbal is fresh from a dominant Champions Trophy campaign in which he cracked 293 runs at 73, including 95 against Australia, 128 against England and 70 against India.
The left-hander loves to deal in boundaries, so his duel with the uber-accurate Hazlewood will be of great significance.
Yet the battle which seems likely to decide the series will be between the Australian batsmen and Bangladesh’s slow bowlers. Mehedi will likely open the bowling, alongside paceman Mustafizur, and should like his chances of troubling Australian opener David Warner, who has a poor record against off spin in Asia.
The 19-year-old is like a right-arm version of Rangana Herath. Like the Sri Lankan finger spinner, who destroyed Australia last year, Mehedi does not seek to befuddle the batsmen with a bulging bag of tricks. Instead, he exploits his impressive accuracy to land his off breaks and arm balls in a good area time after time, playing on the patience of the batsmen and making the most of the natural variation offered by dry, Asian pitches.
Shakib, meanwhile, earns sharp drift thanks to his round-arm action. This makes him particularly effective against batsmen who instinctively plant their front foot straight down the pitch to fuller deliveries.
Warner and Usman Khawaja both have been exposed for making this technical mistake in the past and will be strong LBW candidates against Shakib.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Smith, by comparison, is more open in his stance and makes sure to keep his front pad out of the way. This is a major reason why he has such a fantastic Test record in Asia, with 1081 runs at 51, including four centuries from 11 Tests.
Shakib will try to lure Smith into forcing length deliveries through the offside from the back foot. The Australian skipper stumbled into this trap several times against Herath but made an obvious effort to avoid repeating the mistake in India.
This series will be one of the biggest moments of Shakib’s career. If he can haul Bangladesh to a series win it will be not just his greatest achievement but also the highest point in his country’s cricketing history.