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Bangladesh have recalled allrounder Nasir Hossain, who last played a Test in August 2015, and medium-pacer Shafiul Islam, who last played in October 2016, for the first Test against Australia in Mirpur from August 27.

Squad changes

• In: Shafiul Islam, Nasir Hossain

• Out: Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Subhasis Roy and Rubel Hossain

Mominul Haque was dropped from the squad for the first time since his debut in March 2013, alongside senior batsman Mahmudullah, who was dropped after the first Test in Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka earlier this year. Imrul Kayes, who batted at No. 3 as a replacement for Mominul in the second Test in Sri Lanka, was retained in the 14-man squad.After the end of the Sri Lanka tour, Mahmudullah scored a match-winning hundred against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy and helped Bangladesh reach the semi-final, but his return to the Test squad based on ODI form had been unlikely.Mominul was the subject of a number of questions during the press conference in Mirpur on Saturday. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin and coach Chandika Hathurusingha, who is also part of the selection committee, maintained that they didn’t want to change the winning combination from the Colombo Test in March. Mominul’s form in the last two Tests was given as a reason too.”Mominul made just one fifty in the last six innings,” Abedin said. “He was dropped because of his form. Imrul and Soumya are ahead of them. Soumya has four fifties in the last eight innings during this period, averaging 45.75. So that’s why Mominul went below in our consideration. He is our first choice among those not in the team. It is not the end of his career because he is dropped for the first Test.”Mominul is not unlucky because based on current form, others are ahead of him. There’s less pressure playing in away Test than a home game, so we didn’t take that into account.”Nasir last played against South Africa in 2015 while Shafiul played the Chittagong Test in October last year. The pair impressed in domestic limited-overs tournaments last season, as well as practice matches in the ongoing training camp in Dhaka and Chittagong. Nasir did well in the National Cricket League, averaging 109.33 in four innings, but in the Bangladesh Cricket League, he averaged just 30.87 in eight innings. Shafiul took 11 wickets in three matches in this season’s BCL.Hathurusingha informed that Nasir was picked as a like-for-like back-up for Mosaddek Hossain, who is suffering from an eye infection.Squad for the first Test: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Mosaddek Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Shafiul Islam.BCB XI for 2-day practice match against Australians: Mahmudullah (capt), Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Das, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Irfan Sukkur, Mohammad Saifuddin, Subashis Roy, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Tanbir Hayder, Jubair Hossain, Abul Hasan

Colin de Grandhomme was in destructive mood [file picture]•BCCI

Birmingham Bears stars Colin de Grandhomme and Grant Elliott produced fine displays to beat the Derbyshire Falcons by 20 runs in an entertaining NatWest Blast match at Edgbaston.De Grandhomme went into the tournament with the reputation as holder of the fastest scoring rate in Twenty20 and finally he made someone suffer.Having been invited to bat, Birmingham got off to an excellent start in the Powerplay overs at 49 for 0, with Ed Pollack hitting two huge sixes off Hardus Viljoen and Derbyshire’s overseas player Imran Tahir.Debutant Pollack brought up his 50 off just 31 balls as the Bears threatened to cut loose, and he made it a century partnership with fellow opener Sam Hain in the 12th over of the match.The partnership was broken just two balls later as Wayne Madsen continued to take wickets in the competition, having Hain caught by Tahir at short third-man for 34. The wicket saw New Zealand international De Grandhomme promoted to No 3 in the order.Pollack eventually fell to a smart catch by Matt Henry off Viljoen for an explosive 66 off 40 balls as the Falcons hoped to get a grip on the game and drag back the run-rate.De Grandhomme took on the role of enforcer while new man at the crease Ian Bell anchored proceedings before losing his wicket thanks to a stunning one-handed catch from Henry at deep long-on.That failed to slow down De Grandhomme, however, as he raced to his half-century off just 22 balls, finishing the innings in style along with Ireland captain William Porterfield, who was run out off the last ball for 20.De Grandhomme finished unbeaten on 65, with the Bears reaching 197 for 4 in their 20 overs.The Falcons’ reply began with the early loss of skipper Billy Godleman caught behind by Alex Mellor off Keith Barker, but Matt Critchley and Luis Reece launched a brief counter-attack for the Falcons.Critchley’s bright innings was brought to an end on 17 when Barker’s low full toss was miscued to De Grandhomme at cover, to earn the left-arm seamer his second wicket of the afternoon. At the end of the Powerplay, Derbyshire were ahead of the Bears on 59 for two.Madsen – the leading run-scorer in the T20 Blast this season – soon entered the fray and began to build with Reese, as the Falcons floated around the required run-rate.Wickets were the key component for both sides, and it was the Bears that continued to chip away as Patel bowled Reece, before Falcons captain Gary Wilson was tamely caught at short third-man off Elliott as Birminghamturned the screw.The loss of Madsen for 16, caught by Hain running in from deep cover off Elliott, dealt a huge blow to the Falcons, and it looked desperate once Alex Hughes went for 25, caught behind off the glove.With the run-rate increasing, the comical run-out of Calum Brodrick by Hain effectively ended the Falcons’ chase and there was a fourth wicket for former New Zealand international Elliott as his fellow countryman Henry holed out at deep midwicket.Barker got his third wicket of the game, bowling Viljoen around his legs as the Falcons finished on 177 for 9 to lose by 20 runs.

ScorecardWith doubts lingering over Stuart Broad’s fitness for Saturday’s Royal London One-Day Cup final at Lord’s, Nottinghamshire face another anxious couple of days assessing the fitness of a second key bowling asset after injury forced Jake Ball to leave the field during the final session here.Despite playing the injury down overnight, Ball was sent for a scan by the ECB on Wednesday morning, and the selectors will be monitoring the results closely as they prepare to meet to select the squad for the first Test against South Africa at Lord’s next week.The England fast bowler, who had already struck an important blow for his team in this match at the start of Kent’s second innings, pulled up in his follow-through after bowling one delivery of his third over, feeling some pain in his right knee.After receiving attention on the field it looked at first as if he would continue but after a couple of attempts to replicate his run-up to the crease under the supervision of his county physio he asked the umpire for his cap and sweater and left the field, leaving Luke Fletcher to complete his over.Nottinghamshire head coach Peter Moores described his withdrawal as “a precaution” and said his prospects of resuming in this match would be assessed in the morning. However, he is being monitored by Notts and England medical teams, and he will not bowl again in the match.Broad, who was forced to miss this match after suffering a heel injury against Leicestershire last week, was still rated as doubtful on Monday but there was better news today. Put through his paces before play, he appeared to be moving well enough, although Nottinghamshire will be wary of risking any further damage with the opening Test against South Africa just over a week away.After playing his part with a flurry of boundaries with the bat in helping Nottinghamshire to a lead of 191 on first innings, Ball had dealt Kent the early blow they least wanted as they began their second innings against the pink ball in the awkward day-to-night phase.After bowling brilliantly with scant reward in the first innings, with only one tailender’s wicket to show for his efforts, Ball found success in his second over this time, producing a full and fast delivery to which Daniel Bell-Drummond, who had so valiantly held Kent together on Monday, had no answer.Yet Ball’s absence hardly made things easier for Kent, who were four wickets down and still 86 behind at the close. To make matters worse, Sam Billings, unbeaten on 39, now leaves this match to play for the Lions at Worcester. The 20-year-old batsman Joe Weatherley takes his place.Despite a career-best 168 from Steven Mullaney, who was 63 not out overnight, and a partnership of 222 between the opener and Alex Hales, Nottinghamshire had not fulfilled their objective of batting Kent out of the game, losing their last wickets for 41.They fell short even of maximum batting points, which felt almost like a formality earlier in the day when Hales and Mullaney, having come through a tough pink ball baptism on the first evening, plundered runs under the pale sky of the second afternoon.Mullaney, one half of the key partnership in the historic win over Essex that booked Nottinghamshire’s place at Lord’s, completed the 12th first-class century of his career, punching the air as he might after a bout of nausea almost forced him to leave the field in the early part of his innings on Monday.Jake Ball limped off – and that will worry England•Getty Images

Once something of a bit-part player among stars at Trent Bridge, Mullaney has become a key figure in all formats. Always an all-round asset in the one-day sides, he has found his niche at the top of the order in the four-day side, and a useful partnership-breaking bowler to boot. Well respected in the dressing room, he led the side in Chris Read’s absence last season and looks a natural choice to take on the captaincy in his own right when Read retires at the end of the season.As a batsman, he may lack the flair and natural timing of Samit Patel, with whom he shared that epic stand at Chelmsford, and he does not dominate in the way Hales sometimes does. Yet he has the temperament to concentrate for long periods and packs a punch when the moment arrives to up the tempo.He and Hales were together for 47.5 overs for the fourth wicket before Hales was caught on the rope attempting a second six straight off Joe Denly’s leg spin, missing out by 15 on what appeared to be a certain hundred.The innings lost some of its impetus after Hales. Riki Wessels was unusually subdued and Mullaney went an hour without scoring a boundary before a couple in quick succession off Adam Milne eased the pressure.He passed his previous best, 166 against Somerset here last year, with a six off Will Gidman and the applause that accompanied his return to the pavilion, caught behind off Matt Coles, was a measure of his popularity. He acknowledged it properly, too, raising his bat to all corners of the ground.Kent’s bowlers have to be commended for the way they maintained their discipline and in denying Nottinghamshire their full complement of points they might consider they scored a minor triumph.Yet, the possibly unwelcome consequence of this was that it was their batsman who were exposed to the day-into-night phase. After Bell-Drummond, Denly edged a fine, swinging ball from Fletcher to be caught behind before Harry Gurney struck twice, Sam Northeast following a ball outside off-stump to be caught behind, Sean Dickson edging to Brendan Taylor at third slip.July 28, 11.36am – This story was updated with news of Ball’s knee scan

ScorecardWhen deprived of time, cricket takes comfort from intensity. So it was in this Roses match when the players emerged from the dressing-rooms after five phone-goggled hours with Yorkshire’s batsmen seeking to establish a substantial first-innings score. We thought that Gary Ballance might then seek to put Lancashire’s top order under the particular pressure that only a few overs late in the day can apply. All that had happened in the 19 balls bowled before mid-morning rain swept in from the west was that Andy Hodd had played on to Tom Bailey and 14 runs had been scored. Now battle could be rejoined in a long evening session.But battle was not truly joined. Instead, travelling supporters were treated to the satisfying spectacle of Jack Leaning making his first century since June 2015 and the deliciously unexpected one of Jack Brooks making his highest first-class score and ending the evening playing a Boycottesque forward defensive in the hope that he will be allowed to score the six runs that will take him to a maiden century in the morning. Yorkshire are now 421 for 7 and they have seized control of this game. Leaning and Brooks’ unbroken stand of 165, an eighth-wicket record for Roses matches, has ensured that their team should not lose the match. It seems longer than a day’s play since Yorkshire were 178 for 6; since then they have scored 243 runs for the loss of Hodd’s wicket.The anticipation principle also applies to spectators, of course. Sometimes it is the waiting that makes one’s pleasures particularly enjoyable, although by most accounts Henry VIII did not subscribe to this view in the case of Anne Boleyn. Thus the hardy souls who had spent the middle of their Saturdays frowsting in the Old Trafford pavilion watched the last 37 overs of the day with even greater interest and if they wore the eleven-petalled White Rose, they were repaid by the beguiling sight of Leaning supporting Brooks, who went from 50 to 94 in 35 balls, hitting three further sixes in the process. Having spent their afternoon draining a glass or two in the afternoon, Yorkshire supporters suddenly found that their cups runneth over.Brooks’ pleasure can only be guessed at this evening and his celebrations, should he reach a century, may keep social media buzzing tomorrow, even on a day when a few association football matches are taking place. He reached the fourth first-class fifty of his career when he skewed a drive off Stephen Parry just past Haseeb Hameed at midwicket. Yet the somewhat fortunate fashion in which Brooks reached his landmark did not reflect the good sense and clean hitting which characterised his innings. Brooks has always been a capable if uncomplicated batsman, even if farming the bowling is an alien concept to him, something which Yorkshire’s England batsmen have discovered to their cost and mirth. Now he has the chance to do something very special; if he succeeds, his opening overs may be worth watching, too.If Jack Brooks reaches three figures, the celebrations should be worth watching•Getty Images

Yet all this jollity was only made possible because Leaning and Hodd had batted so well on the first evening of the game and while the vaudeville of Brooks’ straight drives and lashes over cover and midwicket should be properly applauded, the merit of Leaning’s understated contribution is worthy of even greater credit. Last season was tough for a player who many critics believe capable of winning representative honours. Leaning played in only nine of his county’s Division One fixtures in 2016 and his application in this game was all the more admirable.He reached his century with a back-foot four off Simon Kerrigan, whose accuracy on a slow wicket was nothing like the equal of his colleague, Parry. But both bowlers came in for punishment after Leaning had reached his century in exactly six hours with half a dozen fours and a couple of sixes. Lancashire’s captain, Steven Croft, sorely missed the presence of Jimmy Anderson, who will have a scan on his groin injury on Monday, and also that of Jordan Clark, who was ruled out of this match with a back problem.Once Anderson had limped off the field on the first morning, Lancashire’s attack immediately looked thin but it took a day or so for Yorkshire’s batsmen to expose its full limitations. They eventually did so on a glorious Saturday evening and with the greatest relish. Jack Brooks – The Centurion? One fancies that Roy Kilner is laughing his head off.

It was a match where momentum swung sharply one way and then the other, but still left one feeling that West Indies were up against it. Ever since Pakistan had dominated the opening two sessions of the first day, reducing their opponents to 154 for 6, they kept snuffing out any West Indian resurgence. All those efforts came undone on a famous morning in Bridgetown, with the West Indies needing under 35 overs to blow Pakistan away for 81 and seal an astonishing 106-run series-levelling victory.The seeds of the win were sown during the course of the fourth afternoon when Shai Hope, who averaged little over 15 in eight Tests prior to this, negated the Yasir Shah threat to make a gritty 90 that stretched the lead to 187.”It was a collective team effort,” Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, said. “We got runs in the first innings which I felt was crucial, and we were able to back it up with a solid second-innings performance on that kind of pitch. I think credit must go to Shai Hope, and obviously our bowling department was outstanding the entire game.”We felt if we could give them anything in excess of 170, we were in with a really good chance on a day-five pitch. It was all about being patient, we needed to hit our lengths, and use our cutters, cross-seam deliveries, anything that would give us assistance off the wicket. We dropped one or two chances, an area we need to improve on, but it was still a strong collective team effort.”Holder’s one regret was Hope missing a maiden Test century. “His innings was outstanding. He likes batting here; I think he has two double-centuries at this ground. And it’s good he came here, playing his second Test match here, and went on to score a half-century. Unfortunately, he didn’t go on to score a hundred, I felt he deserved it, but that’s the way cricket goes. But I felt his innings was really crucial. He was patient and selective. He played on merit and was able to get a good score for us.”Misbah, for his part, refused to play up the troubles of chasing on a crumbling surface. “You can easily say that it’s about batting on a day-five pitch. But after getting them 150-odd for 6 in the first innings and letting them score 300-plus, we let it slip. Then, we were in control batting at 316 for 4, but could only manage a lead of 81. I think that made a huge difference, and we all knew even on the first day that it’s [the pitch] going to get worse.”So if we had managed a bigger lead in the first innings that could have made a difference. On the last day, all credit to the West Indian bowlers, they hit their lines, they bowled their heart out, and we really had no answers.”

Match facts

Mumbai Indians v Delhi Daredevils
Mumbai, April 22, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)2:52

Hogg: Daredevils must bring Anderson and Nadeem back

Head to head

Last season: Both teams won their respective home games – Daredevils by ten runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla and Mumbai by a thumping 80-run margin in Visakhapatnam, their second home.Overall: It’s a stalemate with both teams having met 18 times and won nine each.

Form guide

• Mumbai Indians (First): beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets, beat Gujarat Lions by six wickets, beat Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets

• Delhi Daredevils (Fourth): beat Kings XI Punjab by 51 runs, lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets, lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 15 runs

In the news

All of Mumbai’s wins have come while chasing, including their last game, where they made short work of Kings XI Punjab’s 198.Ambati Rayudu has returned to training after suffering a groin injury in Mumbai’s opening game, but is not yet available for selection. With Nitish Rana among the top run-scorers currently, it may be some time before Rayudu finds a spot again.

The likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Parthiv Patel (wk), 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Rohit Sharma (capt), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Lasith Malinga/Tim Southee, 11 Jasprit BumrahDelhi Daredevils: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Sam Billings, 3 Karun Nair, 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Angelo Mathews/Corey Anderson, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Jayant Yadav/Shahbaz Nadeem, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Zaheer Khan (capt), 11 Amit Mishra

Strategy punt

• Two of Malinga’s three most expensive spells in T20 cricket have come in this IPL. While that raises the possibility of Tim Southee taking his place, if Mumbai do persist with Malinga, they may not want to bowl him in the slog overs. Malinga has gone at 8.80 an over in the Powerplay this season. It is significantly better than 11.47 in the slog – which is the worst he has fared in the last five overs across seasons. Malinga could also be used in the middle overs (7-15). Daredevils have a run rate of 7.33 in this period, the worst among all teams.
• There is a strong case for Daredevils to open with spin. Jos Buttler has scored at 7.23 an over against spinners this IPL, as opposed to 10.28 against fast bowlers. The numbers are starker for Parthiv Patel, his opening partner, who has scored at 9.36 an over against pace. Against spin, the number plummets to 5.55, along with four dismissals in as many innings.

Stats that matter

• Wankhede Stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for Daredevils, having registered only one win, and four defeats, including in the last three times they played here.
• Both teams have proven to be death-over giants in this edition of the IPL: Mumbai have the best run rate – 12.26 – in the last five overs, followed by Daredevils, who have scored at 11.44 an over.
• Kieron Pollard has hit Amit Mishra for ten sixes, the most for a batsman against a single bowler in the history of the IPL.
• In this edition, Sanju Samson has scored at 6.09 an over against spinners, which is significantly lower compared to his scoring rate – 10.24 – against pacers. However, against Harbhajan Singh, Mumbai’s most capped player, Samson boasts better figures, with 74 runs off 54 balls across all T20s at 8.22 an over without being dismissed even once.
• Despite losing three out of their five matches, Daredevils’ net run rate, 1.16, is the best among all teams so far. The next best, 0.71, belongs to the second-placed Kolkata Knight Riders

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsUpul Tharanga and Kusal Perera struck a 65-run opening stand•Associated Press

Kusal Perera made a roaring return to Sri Lankan colours, cracking 77 off 53 balls to lead the hosts on a successful hunt of Bangladesh’s 155 for 6. That Sri Lanka had so few to chase was partly the work of Sri Lanka’s bowlers, who made breakthroughs whenever a partnership threatened, though they were helped to that end by off-colour Bangladesh batting.Mashrafe Mortaza, who as it turned out, was playing his penultimate game in the format, was by a distance the visitors’ best bowler. He claimed 2 for 32 from his four overs, and only one other bowler – Taskin Ahmed – mustered a breakthrough. Sri Lanka sauntered to the target with seven balls and six wickets to spare.This match was Kusal’s first international since his unseemly Test outing in Port Elizabeth, for which he was dropped from the Test XI, then subsequently axed from the limited-overs squads altogether. Having returned to national reckoning via good innings for Sri Lanka A, Kusal outlined his value to Sri Lanka in an innings that showcased a little batting nous as well as characteristic brutality. The bludgeoned drives and whipped pick-up shots over midwicket did eventually come, but not before he had laid low for the first four overs; and the big shots were, in any case, well devised as well as nicely executed. Instead of trying to clear fielders as Kusal often does, he strove to hit even his most ambitious shots into gaps.

Over-rate fine for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka were found to be one over short of their target in the first T20I, and have been fined by the ICC. While captain Upul Tharanga was fined 20% of his match fee, the rest of the team were fined 10%.

Having made only 5 off his first eight balls, Kusal smoked four fours and a six off his next seven, to help move Sri Lanka to 57 for none at the end of the Powerplay. Upul Tharanga, who had given the innings its initial impetus, departed in the seventh over, but Kusal stayed long enough to almost see the chase through. He reached his fifty off 31 balls, and when he fell in the penultimate over, Sri Lanka needed only nine runs, which they would proceed to gather over the next four balls. Seekkuge Prasanna was not out with 22 off 12 at the close.Though their bowlers responded poorly to Kusal’s shellacking, Bangladesh may reflect that it was with the bat that they made the more substantial mistakes. They had flown to 57 for 1 after five overs, for example, but then Sabbir Rahman ran a poor line to get himself run out, and Soumya Sarkar holed out in the same Vikum Sanjaya over. Suddenly, at 57 for 3, all that momentum they had developed was surrendered.Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan fell playing expansive shots to slow bowlers, who should, in fact, have been less effective on this track, which retained a little grass and had been rolled until hard. Mosaddek Hossain and Mahmudullah put on 57 off 42 together to lift their side from 82 for 5, but could not quite crack enough runs through the back-end of the innings to lift Bangladesh to a winning score.Lasith Malinga was especially good through this period, giving away seven and eight in his last two overs, in which he took the wicket of Mahmudullah with a searing yorker, having also done the same to Tamim Iqbal with the second ball of the match.Rain before play had delayed the start by 45 minutes, but no overs were lost.

Middlesex have re-signed Brendon McCullum for this season’s NatWest T20 Blast campaign.McCullum, who made six appearances for Middlesex last season, will re-join in early July and be available for nine of Middlesex’s South Group matches.Middlesex’s use of Lord’s for T20 is limited. Two of McCullum’s appearances this term will be home matches under the floodlights at Lord’s on Thursday nights, against London rivals Surrey on July 13, and against Essex a fortnight later, with a capacity crowd anticipated on both occasions.McCullum will also feature in two of Middlesex home outground matches, against Somerset at Uxbridge and against Kent at Richmond.Middlesex are one of two counties to have taken advantage of the new condensed midsummer format by bringing in Dan Vettori, the former New Zealand spinner, as a specialist T20 coach; Derbyshire have followed a similar route with the appointment of another Kiwi, John Wright.Middlesex’s managing director of cricket, Angus Fraser, said: “We are naturally delighted to have Brendon back to play for Middlesex in this season’s NatWest T20 Blast.”Brendon had a hugely positive influence on the club in 2016 and I’m sure he will have a similar impact this summer.”Middlesex’s improved Twenty20 form last season saw them reach the quarter-final before going down to Northants at Northampton.

One by one, Bangladesh’s touring party walked to the centre of the Basin Reserve. First, it was chief selector Minhajul Abedin and BCB’s cricket operations chairman Akram Khan. Then a second and third group went with players and coaching staff. Any batting line-up will have concerns about a green pitch but for Bangladesh, that concern is mixed with a lack of confidence in overseas conditions and the pressure of extending their recent good form at home.For a team that doesn’t travel much outside its own surroundings to play Tests, the challenge seems magnified, especially for the batsmen. The sight of a lush, green pitch can be disconcerting but the visitors can take heart from the numbers. In the last three Tests at the Basin Reserve, teams have scored in excess of 500 three times, raking up the scores in the second and third innings of the match. The highest first-innings score in the last three matches has been 221.Bangladesh’s concern, therefore, should be more about strategy than the pitch: bowl first if they win the toss, and then bat as long as possible to make use of a flatter surface.Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, therefore, has laid down the marker for his batting line-up: to bring their overall consistency of home matches to an away Test match.”Our target would be to bring the home consistency to away Tests,” Mushfiqur said. “It is time that we prove ourselves in overseas conditions. The batsmen have to take the biggest challenge. Some of them like Tamim, Shakib and Mahmudullah have done well in Tests here in the past.”But now we need a collective effort from the batsmen, which we failed to do in the ODIs and T20s. We are capable, so this is our opportunity to do it. Our main challenge will be for the batsmen to set up the Test match for the bowlers. We have to put up a good enough total for the bowlers to defend.”Seven members of the Bangladesh Test squad have never played in this format abroad, including talented youngsters like Sabbir Rahman, Taskin Ahmed and Mehedi Hasan. There will be fewer expectations on the youngsters with most of the focus on the seniors in the batting line-up, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur.Mushfiqur’s technical strength will be important in dealing with seaming conditions while Tamim has the experience of playing for the Wellington Firebirds in the domestic T20 tournament. Much will also depend on how Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan stand up to New Zealand’s pace attack.Mushfiqur said he had advised his young pace attack to target the top of off stump instead of being too focused on the available pace and bounce.”Bowlers do get excited by extra bounce but the best ball here, like any other pitch, is one that targets the top of off stump,” Mushfiqur said. “We have tried to pass on this message to our bowlers and also told them that even a top batsman needs one ball to get out. The bowlers have to work hard here because New Zealand know how to handle these conditions.”When you know as a group that you can take 20 wickets, it gives a bit of satisfaction. But we are playing in a different condition and we haven’t played an away Test in a very long time. The pace bowlers have to take over the attacking role that the spinners have in home Tests. I believe that our pace bowlers have the ability to take 20 wickets if they bowl at their best.”Mushfiqur also said that younger players, like offspinner Mehedi Hasan and seamer Mustafizur Rahman, should not be subject to unrealistic expectations. Mehedi took 19 wickets in his debut Test series against England in October, picking up the Man-of-the-Series award. Mustafizur, who has been rested for the first Test, was recently named the ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year.”I would request all to keep realistic expectations about Mustafizur or Mehedi Hasan,” he said. “These conditions are new for them so sometimes even someone like Mehedi gets confused. But I feel he is a smart operator, which enabled him to come to the senior team so quickly. Here, he will learn how to switch his roles with the fast bowlers becoming the attacking options.”

What did the Supreme Court do on Monday?
The court removed BCCI president Anurag Thakur and board secretary Ajay Shirke from their positions. The Lodha Committee had observed constantly that both Thakur and Shirke were playing an “obstructionist” role and impeding the implementation of the recommendations despite the court approving them on July 18 last year.Who is in charge of the BCCI at this moment?
The court said the most senior vice-president at BCCI who meets the eligibility criteria set by the Lodha Committee will be the interim president. The joint secretary Amitabh Choudhury will take over as secretary, provided he meets the eligibility criteria. Before they assume their new positions, though, both would need to give an undertaking that they would abide by the July 18 court judgement, which had approved most of the Lodha Committee recommendations.What happens next?
The court has asked amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium and Fali S Nariman to nominate members to a panel of administrators that would supervise the BCCI before a new set of office bearers takes over once the Lodha recommendations are put in place.Who runs the BCCI for the next month?
The BCCI CEO Rahul Johri is in charge of the daily operations.Will this impact cricket?
Unlikely. The BCCI has raised no concern about domestic cricket operations so far. As for international cricket, India host England for a limited-overs series starting January 15. The court has already approved all finances for the England series.Can the BCCI appeal?
The BCCI can file a curative petition against the January 2 order. But the board’s attempts to challenge the court orders over the last one year have failed.