What is Shuvagata's role?

Shuvagata Hom would like to forget the third day's play of the Dhaka Test. He moved late to a Wahab Riaz delivery outside off-stump, resulting in a golden duck. Two catches went past his diving left hand at gully. He did hold on to a dolly and took a wicket with a long-hop, but you could see that he was feeling the pinch. When he came on to bowl late in Pakistan's second innings, Shuvagata looked weary, and rather reluctantly accepted a short leg and a slip from captain Mushfiqur. Misbah-ul-Haq reversed him for a boundary soon after.

The tame dismissal coupled with his insipid bowling, his international performance so far, and his overall role in the Bangladesh team, particularly in the two Tests against Pakistan, would make the fourth day of the Dhaka Test a make-or-break innings for him. Shakib Al Hasan, who was at the other end when Shuvagata was dismissed within the first 4.2 overs of the third morning, said that he should support the top and middle-order batsmen when he goes to bat at No 8, but added that it wasn't an easy position to bat in.

"It is a difficult situation to bat but this is a big opportunity for him (Shuvagata)," Shakib said. "Things would have been different if Shahadat wasn't injured. [Jubair Hossain] Likhon too was injured just before the game, so may be that affected the team selection. I think we were unfortunate with the injuries and the catches taken off no-balls.

"Of course it is possible to make a contribution. Why wouldn't it be? If he has a recognized batsman at the other end, he can put together a substantial partnership. Bangladeshi batsmen have scored 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s at No 7 and 8 in the past. Since he is a specialist batsman, he can bat with the tail-ender. There is chance to contribute, but it is not easy."

A bad day can be forgiven and forgotten, so too a bad Test series. A player doing ordinarily in his first six Tests can be largely ignored. He can be a slow starter. But the issue with Shuvagata in this Bangladesh Test team is his specific role. In his second coming as an international cricketer, Shuvagata was picked for the two-match Test series against West Indies last August as an allrounder who was required to bowl a lot of overs since Shakib was serving the BCB ban and Sohag Gazi had his action reported and returned home.

In the preceding season, 2013-14, Shuvagata averaged 38 with the bat and picked up 21 wickets. Among allrounders who had taken a minimum of ten wickets and scored at least 300 runs in the domestic first-class competitions, Shuvagata was the third highest wicket-taker and fourth highest scorer. A specialist batsman who can bowl a bit but he effectively replaced Sohag Gazi, the specialist offspinner who could bat a bit. Try working that one out.

He featured in the Zimbabwe series for nearly the same reason but wasn't asked to bowl in the first Test. He scored just one half-century and took just four wickets in the series. When he was picked for the Pakistan Tests, the chief selector Faruque Ahmed explained that they wanted to pick players from the previous Test Bangladesh had played to have some consistency and continuation in the team. So far, that hasn't worked out well.

A lot of questions have been raised with Jubair Hossain not being picked ahead of him in Khulna and Bangladesh not opting for Abul Hasan in his place when they knew the wicket would assist pace bowlers. Whether his role was a negative one is certainly up for debate, but his job description of being a part allrounder evidently fits the plan of the captain Mushfiqur and coach Chandika Hathurusingha.

What adds to the confusion is his first stint as an international cricketer. Shuvagata was picked for the ODI series against Zimbabwe in 2011 as a specialist batsman after having averaged 61.26 in ten first-class matches with three hundreds and six fifties since his first-class debut in 2010. He looked like a confident player but couldn't get past the thirties in the four ODIs. He was sent to the scrapheap.

A further look back into Shuvagata's career perplexes you even more. He spent the first few years of his domestic club cricket career as a medium-pacer. Only when he joined the National Cricket Academy did he suddenly change tact and transform himself into a stump-to-stump offspinner. He is a loyal cricketer too helping his first club, Cricket Coaching School, get promoted to the Dhaka First Division Cricket League (second tier in the Dhaka league system) from the Second Division in 2005-06.

He helped them stay afloat in the first division despite the team being in the relegation zone in the 2006-07 season. The following season, 2007-08, his runs helped them earn promotion to the Dhaka Premier League (the top tier of the Dhaka league system) and despite big monetary offers, he stuck with them for two more seasons.

No Bangladesh cricketer, especially in the last ten years, has been with a single club for too long and neither has one made it to the senior side as a batsman first, been dropped and then got picked for his bowling skills. There's something about Shuvagata, that only the Bangladesh team management and selectors have seen so far. Saturday could be the day that everyone else does too.