Noakhali’s choices in focus after five straight defeats

Shahadat Hossain Dipu is considered one of the few emerging batting talents in the country.

If not nationally, then at least within his Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) side - Noakhali Express - a new franchise that have already played five matches in this year’s tournament and are still searching for their maiden win.

Yet Shahadat is yet to play a game, even though batting has been Noakhali’s Achilles heel from the onset. He is not the only one.

Jaker Ali Anik, one of the mainstays of Bangladesh’s middle-order for the past two years, was also dropped after three innings in which he scored six, 29 and six.

Jaker has been struggling for some time, but he showed signs of a return to form against Sylhet Titans when he made 29 off 17 balls.

However, following that innings, he was given only one more opportunity, which was surprising for a player of national level.

Meanwhile, Noakhali have struggled badly with the willow, posting the following totals in their five matches so far: 109, 143, 124, 61 and 133.

Shahadat had a decent National Cricket League T20 in September–October. The 23-year-old right-handed batter, who has already represented Bangladesh in six Test matches and was part of the Under-19 World Cup–winning squad in 2020, garnered 157 runs at a strike rate of 133 while representing Chattogram Division.

He struck an unbeaten 64 off 36 deliveries to win the match for his side against Dhaka Metro and followed that up with another match-winning effort of 45 off 33 against Rajshahi.

Yet Shahadat has continued to warm the bench in the BPL while his team suffered one defeat after another due to consistent batting failures. Instead of picking Shahadat, Noakhali went with Shykat Ali and Sabbir Hossain - two domestic-level cricketers who have not scored significant runs so far this season.

Shykat, who also captained the side before Haider Ali took over leadership, featured in two games at the top of the order and scored 24 and four. He also turned out for Chattogram Division in the NCL T20, where he totalled only 52 runs in four innings.

Sabbir, who captained Rajshahi Division, has represented Noakhali in three matches so far — twice at number three and once at number six — scoring six, 15 and five.

He has not made runs in the BPL over the last three years while playing for Durdanto Dhaka, Durbar Rajshahi, and Noakhali this season. During this period, he made a total of 14 trips to the crease and accumulated only 105 runs, while also taking four wickets with his medium pace. Sabbir’s recent form has also been unconvincing, as he scored only 134 runs in seven NCL T20 innings.

Yet he was given game time ahead of Shahadat, even as the team continued to post sub-par totals.

Asked about the reasoning after Noakhali’s first match, the then captain Shykat defended the decision, citing team combination.

“We had issues with team combinations,” he said at the press conference after Noakhali’s opening match. “We had six to seven batters including Haider Ali. Sabbir, myself and Sohan (Habibur Rahman) - we are all top-order batters. So if we had scored runs, the game scenario would have changed. Sabbir was picked as an all-rounder - he did score runs in the NCL,” he added.

When Shykat’s attention was drawn to Sabbir’s recent form, he said: “The decision was taken by the management. It’s the first match. You may see him in the next game. You never know who is going to do well in the first match.”

After three games and three defeats, Noakhali dropped both Shykat and Sabbir and brought in Munim Shahriar - almost out of sabbatical. The 27-year-old top-order batter, who has played five T20Is for Bangladesh and scored only 34 runs, had not played a single domestic match this season. He failed to make the Dhaka Metro NCL T20 squad and was also left out of the Mymensingh first-class team.

Yet that was enough for Noakhali to give him two consecutive innings - at number four and number three - where he scored four and two respectively.

For now, the questions remain without any answers - and the wins, for Noakhali, are still nowhere in sight.