Sports Desk

Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said on Sunday that they are looking forward to seeing their new beginning as they prepare to take on New Zealand in the two-match Test series, scheduled at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium (SICS) from October 28.

Both Bangladesh and New Zealand will start their campaign in the third cycle of the ICC Test Championship series through the series which will begin at the SICS while conclude with the last Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, slated from December 6.

The host will have to switch their gear from white-ball cricket to red-ball cricket considering they were busy playing shorter-format cricket with the World Cup in mind.

Along with that they will be missing several key players in the series that will be led by their new Test skipper Nazmul Hossain.

Regular skipper Shakib al Hasan along with pace bowler Ebadot Hossain and Taskin Ahmed are unavailable for their respective injuries while Tamim Iqbal and Litton Kumar Das are unavailable for personal reasons.

“This is almost like a new-look Bangladesh team for various reasons, not by design. Sometimes it's injuries. So, I think we are ready as we can be and I'm looking forward to this Test series,” Hathurusingha told reporters at the SICS on Sunday.

“It's challenging to lose that much of experience from any team, especially for Bangladesh because those guys have been, like, part of the Bangladesh team in every format for more than 15 years, some of them, and some of them 10 years, so that's why I said, it's in one side for everybody, for us, it's something to look forward to, what the youngsters can do,” he said.

“I think it's time that we need to move on from some of the players that have played for a long time. They're not going to be there forever. But this is happening because of many reasons. So, I think it's exciting, and it's an opportunity for some of the youngsters to make their name and then have a long career,” he said adding that others need to fill the shoes of Taskin and Ebadot considering they were the backbone of their pace unit in the longer format.

“They (Taskin and Ebadot) are our best bowlers. There's, again, another opportunity for the other guys to step up. We can't go on, rely on one set of bowlers for so long. It's an opportunity for Khaled and Shoriful and Hasan Mahmud is here in this squad. And he (Hasan) hasn't played any Test cricket,” he said.

Hathurusingha added that uncapped left-arm spinner Hasan Murad doesn't have to feel that he needs to do something special, rather should continue to do what he did in the domestic circuit that earned him a place in the national set-up.

“He (Hasan Murad) can be another bowler. He's been leading wicket taker for NCL for the last two years. So he's done his things, he's earned his place in the squad. My message to him is be the same one, not to be X Factor or Y, it doesn't matter. What he has done in the NCL or the BCL, the selectors have seen that, that's why he's here. So our message for the boys is do the same thing that you've been doing, that's why you're here,” he said adding that they want to leave a mark of improvement in this cycle of the Test Championship.

“If you look, we are developing a team now. It's just a kind of a changing guard for Bangladesh cricket. And the exciting thing is there are good young players there, but the challenge is these guys haven't played enough cricket leading up to,” he concluded.