The host Bangladesh is likely to face off their Afghanistan counterpart without their star performer trio Tamim Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Taskin Ahmed in the one-off Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.
The game will start at 10 a.m.
The home side would surely be waiting eagerly to get their veteran opener Tamim Iqbal fully fit until the last moment of the commencement of the one-off Test against Afghanistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.
Earlier on Sunday, it was learned that the Bangladesh Cricket Board would make the final call on the availability of the seasoned campaigner on Tuesday.
However, the home board made no official comment regarding the affair until the report was filed.
The country’s top run-getter has been sustaining a recurrence of back pain since June 7.
Apart from Tamim Bangladesh are already missing star all-rounder and skipper Shakib Al Hasan, ahead of the battle, who has been nursing a finger injury, and there are also doubts whether pace bowler Taskin Ahmed will play.
‘I think he is going to train today and see how he feels,’ Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said on Tuesday.
‘He trained the day before and he had some discomfort when he was doing certain disciplines, fielding and batting.’
‘So he's going to train today and we will assess him after training.’
It is understood that if Tamim does not make it, Zakir Hasan and Mahmudul Hasan could open the batting for Bangladesh.
Hathurusingha also refused to guarantee the inclusion of Taskin despite his recovering from a side injury that ruled him out of Bangladesh's last Test over Ireland in April at their den.
With the Asia Cup and one-day World Cup approaching, the team are worried about Taskin's workload.
He is one of the few players who is a regular starter for Bangladesh in all three formats when fit.
‘Physically I think he is in the best condition we all have seen,’ said Hathurusingha.
‘There's no injury. Bowling workload is the one little bit of concern we had leading up to this period.
‘So again, him also, we will assess after today's training and then make up our minds.’
The one-off Test against Afghanistan at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium is set to take place on a green track much like the one for the Ireland Test.
‘You know that with this heat it'll deteriorate very quickly and then it'll help the spinners in the latter parts of the game,’ said the veteran Sri Lankan coach.
Meanwhile Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott expressed his desire to win the game despite playing only six games since their inception in 2018 and playing their last against Zimbabwe in 2021.
‘I think there’s an ambition to play Test matches, being a Test nation. But I think it is also important that every Test match we go into, we try to win as well. We haven’t played for a while.’
The former South African English campaigner also acknowledged that they would be missing their experienced campaigner Rashid, who was rested from red-ball cricket with the forthcoming two major competitions, the Asia Cup and the ICC World Cup, in mind.
‘It is very difficult to replace a guy like Rashid. He has vast experience in playing all around the world in different competitions, and different variations of the game. He has played Test cricket. So yes, that’s obviously missed.’
