Bangladesh name a squad for extremes

A squad for all conditions
Bangladesh's 14-man squad for the first Test includes four specialist spinners, two seamers and many allrounders. They have options who can perform on a rank turner or a really flat deck at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. However, the ground's reputation in longer-version matches veers towards the latter, so Mushfiqur Rahim may have to pick an XI that bats deep. In that case, they may go for both pace bowlers in the squad, and bank on Shuvagata Hom for some offspin.

Teams have scored in excess of 400 runs on nine out of 28 occasions in the first innings at this ground. But if curator Zahid Reza puts out a pitch that offers turn from the first day, it will end up being a battle between spinners on both sides.

Sabbir ahead of Soumya
At this stage it seems Sabbir Rahman's form and ability to raise the strike-rate will win him the No 7 slot with Shakib Al Hasan batting just one place above him. Sabbir doesn't have a great first-class record, and neither has he played a lot since the 2013-14 season, but his 60-odd international matches are enough to prove that he belongs at this level.

The team management could, however, have to choose between him and Soumya Sarkar, despite the left-hander's poor form of late. This choice can come up if they plan to go for the one specialist seamer, in which case Soumya's ability to bowl seam-up may give him the nod.

Why Shuvagata Hom?
He must be tired of being questioned about his place, and once again, Shuvagata Hom hasn't convinced many with his inclusion. Primarily a middle-order batsman, he is being picked as a specialist offspinner since the 2014 West Indies tour. His Test bowling record isn't up to the mark but since his last Test, against India, he has taken 25 wickets and scored eight fifties in first-class matches.

As an offspinner, Sohag Gazi has taken a lot more wickets (48) in the same period, while among all specialist Bangladeshi spinners in domestic first-class cricket in the last 15 months, Abdur Razzak and Sunzamul Islam have taken 71 and 68 wickets respectively. Shuvagata's background as a batsman possibly gets him the place, though the selectors keep saying that he is a specialist spinner these days.

Pace conundrum
The decision to go with just the two pace bowlers is justifiable given the conditions in Chittagong but the selectors have taken a major risk by including an injury-prone Shafiul Islam and the uncapped Kamrul Islam Rabbi.

Shafiul has recently returned to the ODI squad but hasn't given a convincing performance against Afghanistan and England. His last major haul in domestic first-class tournament was back in 2013-14. Apart from getting injured after short stints at the top level, Shafiul's other problem is his generally limited-overs length that he often bowls in Tests.

Rabbi is a promising pace bowler who has carried Barisal Division's burden for a number of years. His ability to bowl quickly and produce late swing with the old ball gave him the nod, and so did a genuine lack of choice among fast bowlers.

Mashrafe Mortaza, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Shahid are unavailable in Tests though they are Bangladesh's firepowers in ODIs and T20s. The likes of Robiul Islam, Shahadat Hossain and Mohammad Sharif are long out of favour while rookies like Ebadot Hossain, Mehedi Hasan Rana and Abdul Halim are too raw, which leaves the selectors with very to choose from.

Loss of a match-winner
Among the three players dropped from Bangladesh's last Test squad from July 2015, only legspinner Jubair Hossain draws some sympathy. He has now subsided to the point where he was dropped from his domestic first-class team, Dhaka Metropolis, in their last NCL match. Coach Chandika Hathurusingha lamented his decline but a bit more support from his domestic captains, coaches and team officials could have given this rookie legspinner a lot more confidence.

Jubair became a victim of Bangladesh cricket's apathy towards legsin despite his promising start in Tests in 2014. Being backed by only the national team management didn't take him too long to lose confidence, and that is evident in his bowling figures of late. But with such thin bowling resources, the BCB should find a way to bring this talented bowler back in the fray.