Don't 'destroy' Taskin, warns Hathurusingha

Whether or not to fast-track Taskin Ahmed into the Test side has become the first public disagreement within the BCB's revamped selection structure.

Head coach Chandika Hathurusingha has come down hard on the fast bowler's inclusion in the BCB XI for the second two-day practice match after chief selector Minhajul Abedin had endorsed the move with an eye to his Test potential.

Hathurusingha said on Saturday that he doesn't want to "destroy" Taskin's career by making him play a format that he is not unaccustomed.

Taskin played the last of his ten first-class matches in February 2013, a year before his international debut. He took only three wickets in the three-game ODI series against England - all in Bangladesh's win in the second game in Dhaka - but he has recovered well from an examination of his action and his potential has brought some excitement.

Interestingly, Hathurusingha is part of the selection committee that has selected Taskin. Apart from Minhajul and Hathurusingha, the committee also includes the selectors Habibul Bashar and Sajjad Ahmed, as well as the cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan and team manager Khaled Mahmud.

The formation of this expanded committee is controversial as it requires the coach, operations chairman and manager to oversee the squad picked by the selectors, before the BCB president Nazmul Hassan approves it.

Minhajul, who was appointed chief selector three days after Faruque quit said on Friday that Taskin's inclusion in the warm-up match against England is the "first step" towards bringing him to the longer-version. Taskin has played 20 ODIs and 13 T20s for Bangladesh since his international debut in 2014.

"We have decided to include Taskin in the squad for the second practice match as we want to see how his body responds to longer-version cricket," Minhajul said. "We had initially planned to see him in the fourth round of the National Cricket League but as it's been deferred we changed our plans.

"We need a bowler like Taskin for our Test team but you all know there was concern with the strength of his body and fitness was a big issue. But he bowled brilliantly after coming back from suspension and looked good. He has no complaints about his fitness, so we have decided to take the first step of bringing him into the fold of longer-version cricket."

Hathurusingha wants the experiment to stop there. "Has he played any four-day cricket? So you think people can do magic straight away? No. They are humans. If you haven't played four-day cricket in your entire life, standing four days on the field and bowling 15 overs is entirely new for him. I don't want to destroy somebody's career."

But the Bangladesh manager Mahmud, who according to the BCB chief was included in the selection committee to act as a bridge between the players and coach, also backed the return of Taskin in longer-version cricket.

"You saw he bowled brilliantly after coming back from suspension and he is real quick. We need such a bowler for longer-version cricket but it's too early to say about his chance in the Test side," said Mahmud.

"We have to see how he take the load in the two-day match. I am not the right person to talk about the issue of his fitness or his body strength but what I can say is that he looks better than before."