NCL performers proving vital for Bangladesh

There is often criticism from all corners when Bangladesh select players who have done well in one format domestically and get selected in another.

The latest example can be the recalling of Soumya Sarkar, who had a good National Cricket League (NCL) campaign with both bat and ball but got selected for the white-ball tour of New Zealand.

But one thing that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the team management have gotten right is the way they prepared for this Test match against New Zealand in Sylhet.

Starting from the way the pitch has been prepared, not the grey soil sticky, spinning Mirpur wicket, but a surface that aids the spinners as well as the batters.

The second has to be picking a team with players that didn't play in the World Cup but in the country's premier red ball tournament, the NCL.

Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shoriful Islam aside, none of the players in the starting XI in this Test were part of the Bangladesh team in the World Cup, and played in the NCL.

Mominul Haque was the top run-getter in the NCL with 475 runs and one could see him being in good nick while batting as he got starts and contributed with 37 runs in the first innings and 40 runs in the second innings.

Nayeem Hasan, who was the top wicket-taker in the NCL with a whopping 36 wickets in just 12 innings' also performed with the ball and gave ample support to the bowling spearhead Taijul Islam.

Nayeem took one wicket in the first innings and would have had more had catches not been dropped off of his bowling.

And in the second innings, he has another wicket to his name so far and has constantly been causing the batters problems.

Taijul will grab all the headlines and he rightfully should, as he has eight wickets in the match so far and has led the bowling attack with aplomb. 

He was the second-highest wicket-taker in the NCL with 26 wickets in eight innings.

But the 31-year-old off-spinner expressed disappointment as well as he wasn't selected for the white-ball tour of New Zealand.

"I'm obviously disappointed at not getting selected. I don't want to further speak on the matter," Taijul said in the post-day press conference.

Regardless, the Tigers basically got to pick a much-changed XI partially due to a myriad of injuries to key senior players - Shakib Al Hasan and Taskin Ahmed - and some opting out due to personal reasons - Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das - and that also paved the way for the others to turn up and put their hands up and perform.

New Zealand on the other hand had most of their Test players playing in the World Cup and some of them like Tom Blundell, went in as cover for players that got injured during the tournament and there were a plethora of injuries for the Black Caps there.

Another big factor was perhaps the toss and batting first on this surface, which Bangladesh managed to do.

Ajaz Patel spoke about how vital the toss was after the day's play: "I think anytime you go to the subcontinent, the toss is vital. Because if a wicket looks like it's gonna break up, it's very vital that you want to be betting first and give yourself the best opportunity to put a total on the board."

Overall though, one team came in better prepared for this Test and the other didn't and that has perhaps made the difference here.