The first day of the first Test between Bangladesh and South Africa ended with no surprise as the Proteas batsmen left the visiting bowlers toiling in a batting friendly surface at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom.
The only excitement for Bangladesh fans about the match was limited to a pre-match drama when official broadcaster made a blunder about the starting line-up of the visiting side.
Bangladesh started the match without their regular opener Soumya Sarkar, who was unable to play the match due to his shoulder injury that he picked up during the three-day practice match leading into the Test.
The confusion was created when broadcaster ‘Super Sport’ televised the name of Rubel Hossain in the Bangladesh starting
XI
while they omitted the name of batsman Sabbir Rahman.
It gave an impression that Bangladesh were going to play the game with four pace bowlers for the first time in many days with Rubel joining Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed and Shafiul Islam in the line-up.
Bangladesh last played a Test match with four pacers against New Zealand at Hamilton in 2010 and relied mostly on their spinners since then.
With Sakib al Hasan opting to take a break it was expected that they would play with seven batsmen, three pacers, and Mehedi Hasan as their lone spinner in the game.
Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim also indicated in his pre-match press conference that they would prefer playing with three pacers.
But with the wrong information provided by the official broadcaster, it appeared that the Tigers have changed their mind and took an extra bowler in pursuit of a win.
Considering Bangladesh’s status as underdogs, it was surprising to see them taking this approach.
Bangladesh played their last Test match against Australia at home with eight batsmen, which brought them some criticisms as they failed to bring a balance between their attack and defence in a match they thought they could win.
When they were finally expected to make their batting line-up strong against four-pronged pace attack of South Africa an extra pacer in the line-up left their fans puzzled.
It was more puzzling as they appeared to have dropped Sabbir, who scored a crucial fifty against Australia and showed some form in the practice match with fifty in both innings.
Naturally, the absence of Sabbir’s name in the initial team least provided by the broadcaster created an impression that he might have picked up a late injury that forced the change in game plan.
Fans could heave a sigh of relief once they finally discovered that nothing happened to him as Sabbir took the field from the very first ball.
The broadcaster also corrected their mistake to sort out the puzzle later on.
-With New Age input
