Bangladesh openers continue struggles in Test Cricket
Bangladesh’s opening pair has now gone 12 consecutive Test innings without a fifty-run stand. It’s been two and a half years since the openers last stitched together a century partnership.
“After enduring the tough phase, he got out to a poor delivery”—a commentator sighed while taking a break on the rooftop of the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. He had just watched both openers fall quickly after a relatively calm 30-minute start. Almost instantly, he tried to console himself, saying, “At least we didn’t lose two wickets for just 10 runs…!”
This particular commentator has been present in the commentary box for most of Bangladesh’s recent home matches. He knows the graph of the openers’ performance all too well—and even against Zimbabwe, that graph didn’t show any upward movement.
Bangladesh found themselves under pressure early on in the first Test, losing both openers within the opening hour. But this pressure isn’t new—it’s been trailing them for over two years now. The opening partnership has regularly crumbled for minimal scores. Even against a relatively weaker opposition like Zimbabwe, the first wicket stand lasted just 8.4 overs.
Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava opened the bowling with a tight eight-over spell. Then came Victor Nyauchi, and on the fourth ball of his over, an out-of-sorts medium pacer, Shadman Islam edged one to the slips. Bangladesh had just 31 runs on the board.
With that, the opening pair failed to cross fifty for the 12th straight innings. In this period, this 30-run stand is actually their highest.
To find their last century opening partnership, you have to go all the way back to December 2022—when Zakir Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto added 124 runs against India.
Since then, in 32 innings, no opening pair has reached a hundred. In fact, they’ve only had two fifty-plus partnerships during this stretch.
Despite this continued failure, the selectors have stuck with the same names. Chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain recently mentioned that playing against a relatively easier opponent might allow the out-of-form openers to regain some confidence. But in the first innings, that hope remained unfulfilled.
Shadman was dismissed for just 14. In his last seven innings, he has only one fifty. And it’s been 25 innings since he last scored a hundred. Though, with three fifties in that time, the 29-year-old still fares better than some of his peers.
Just an over after Shadman’s dismissal, Mahmudul Hasan Joy’s innings came to an end. He was caught behind off another wide delivery from Nyauchi. The 24-year-old opener departed for 12 runs.
Joy last scored a fifty back in November 2023, also in Sylhet, against New Zealand. Since then, in 16 innings, he’s only crossed 40 once. After his 137 against South Africa in just his fourth career innings, he hasn’t scored a century in the 29 innings that followed.
The chance to break out of this cycle of failure isn’t over yet—for Shadman or Joy. The series has just begun. But the morning sun didn’t shine any rays of hope.
