What’s the story?
Bangladesh opener Imrul Kayes has been ruled out of the one-off Test match against India. The left-hander injured his left thigh during the second-day of the Bangladeshis’ tour match against India A at the Gymkhana ground.
Kayes was earlier ruled out of the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch last month owing to the same injury, according to BCB media manager Rabeed Imam.
The match starts on Thursday, February 9 in Hyderabad.
The details:
This is a big blow to Bangladesh as Imrul has emerged as one of the mainstays of their batting in the recent years, and his absence could hamper the combination of the team. Kayes, who is one of the more experienced players in the team would be missed by the visitors against the potent Indian bowling especially at the top of the order.
Soumya Sarkar has been roped in as a replacement for Kayes. Incidentally, Sarkar replaced Kayes in Christchurch and scored 86 and 36 in the two innings. He would now walk out to open the batting with Tamim Iqbal.
Incidentally, Bangladesh have not called up an opener and have drafted in middle-order batsman Mosaddek Hossain.
Mosaddek has been a part of the Bangladesh’s ODI and T20 teams but has not yet received a Test cap. , who played the ODIs and T20s in New Zealand but was overlooked for the Tests.
In case you didn’t know...
Bangladesh are touring India for the first time in the history which makes this one-off Test a rather special occasion for the Mushfiqur Rahim-led team. The captain of the visitors has already played down all the hype and has claimed that they are not thinking too far ahead and identify this match as just another regular affair.
India on the other hand, have been a dominant force in their own backyard and are brimming with confidence after smashing England in all three formats. The Virat Kohli-led team are currently ranked number one1 and they would go into the series as clear favourites.
Sportskeeda’s take
Imrul Kayes Test record is not very impressive as he has scored 1432 runs at a modest average of 28.64. However, he forged a very successful partnership with Tamim Iqbal and together they have put together 2205 runs, at an average of 47.93, which makes them the most successful opening pair for Bangladesh.
Thus the injury to Kayes is a big blow to Bangladesh even before the series begins and this would not help the morale of the visitors.
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