Is it time for Bangladesh to overhaul their Test team?

Bangladesh suffered another series defeat, this time at the hands of the home team West Indies. The visitors were no match to the home side as West Indies brushed away their opponents. To note, West Indies won the first match by seven wickets and the second Test by ten wickets.

Bangladesh looked totally deflated as a team and could not pose a strong challenge to West Indies. Similarly, they also lost a Test series at the hands of Sri Lanka in two-match Test series. While both settled for a draw in the first match, the home team Bangladesh somehow managed to lose the second match despite being in a strong position.

Before facing loss at the hands of the West Indies and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh also got thrashed at the hands of South Africa. None of the Bangladeshi batters looked comfortable playing at the fast South African wickets. Veteran all-rounder Shakib al Hasan is currently leading the Test side, but the main problem lies in their batting order.

Apart from having senior players like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib, and Mushfiqur Rahim, who have been the chief contributor in the batting department, the team has not received enough backing from other batters including Najmul Hossain Shanto, Nurul Hasan, and former skipper Mominul ul Haque among others who play odd good knocks but fail to contribute with the bat consistently.

Bangladesh also lacks a quality pace all-rounder. Mohammad Saifuddin showed his protentional with both bat and ball but has been in and out of the squad. The bowling department does a fine job as compared to their batting, but the Bangladeshi side could try to find a good leg-spinner to have some variation in their bowling department.

Bangladesh is currently placed ninth in the ICC Test Rankings just ahead of Zimbabwe and will need to make some tough decisions related to the quality of Test cricket they are playing at present.