Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said on Thursday that it would be difficult to fill the void of experienced Mushfiqur Rahim in the upcoming two match Test series against Sri Lanka but he urged youngsters to grab the opportunity with both hands.
Bangladesh will take on Sri Lanka at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in the opening game of the two-match series, which is part of ICC World Test Championship, scheduled from today.
Experienced Mushfiqur has already been ruled out of the series due to a fractured right thumb and the team management decided to include uncapped Tawhid Hridoy as his replacement.
“We are going to miss Mushy’s (Mushfiqur) experience. He is in good form. It is very hard to replace this kind of experience straight away. We are going to back our young players. Hridoy is coming in. We also have (Shahadat Hossain) Dipu and Shadman (Islam) in the squad. They have been with the Test team lately. It is an exciting time for Bangladesh cricket with so many young players. I will ask them to grab every opportunity,” Hathurusingha told reporters in Sylhet.
“The mood is good in the camp. There are a lot of new faces. We have different teams in red and white-ball cricket. The new boys are bringing a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” he said while adding that he is expecting one of the uncapped pacers Mushfik Hasan or Nahid Rana to make a place in the playing XI.
“They are both exciting prospects for Bangladesh. They can both bowl at 140-plus. They are very young. They are strong boys. They made good starts to their first-class careers. They bowled lots of overs. I am looking forward to seeing one of them playing in this game, if not both,” he said, adding that he is also expecting out of form Liton Das to get back into runs to regain his confidence.
“I expect him to bring a lot more runs in red-ball cricket. He is playing well. It is a different ball game. He will have more time to get himself in. We have no doubt about his talent. We know that he is going through a little bit of rough patch in white-ball cricket. We hope that he will come back to form,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh will be hoping that opener Zakir Hasan will be fine before the opening Test as he left the ground after picking up a finger injury while batting at the nets against Nahid on Thursday.