Abu Jayed – Bangladeshi cricketer who plays for Sylhet Division feels that his exclusion from the 16-member squad for the upcoming home series is against Sri Lanka, has got nothing to do with his form.
Abu Jayed Excluded From Test Squad
Members of Bangladesh national selection panel claimed that they wanted to pick bowlers with raw pace instead of medium-fast bowlers as they feel the need for an injection of pace in their setup in order to thrive at both home and away.
Jayed also didn’t get an opportunity to play in New Zealand and South Africa despite getting picked in both the squads.
Bangladesh’s decision to include pace bowler Khaled Ahmed instead of the experienced Jayed in the opening Test match against South Africa gave the impression that time is running out for the seasoned campaigner even though Shoriful Islam was ruled out of the game. Even Taskin Ahmed’s injury ahead of the second game didn’t land him an opportunity.
“I’ve taken 10 wickets in the last two Tests in Mirpur with this pace. I don’t think pace bowling is the issue here. There can be another story in this matter,” a frustrated Jayed told Cricbuzz on Monday.
“I’ve taken 34 (30) wickets in 13 matches with this pace. I don’t understand from where this realization has suddenly appeared,” he said. “Only pace can’t work nowadays, swing is also needed.
During our stint at the Gary Kirsten Cricket Academy (in Cape Town), one of the pace bowling coaches told us that I don’t need to bowl fast. If I can swing the ball and bowl at 130 kmph speed, it can be as good as 140 kmph,” he added.
Habibul Bashar, member of Bangladesh’s national selection panel, clarified their position to Cricbuzz when his attention was drawn regarding the exclusion of Jayed from the Test set-up. Habibul insisted that they have shifted their focus towards express pace as they prepare to form their bowling unit in the longer format.
“We’re eyeing to start a new trend (of promoting genuine fast bowlers). Earlier we couldn’t dare because we didn’t have them but now that’s not the case. I think we need to have that raw pace to do well at the international level,” said Habibul.
”We’re playing Test matches for a long time and we previously didn’t have such kind of pace bowlers in our hand who could bowl really fast so we played with them (slow pacers) because we didn’t have many options in our hand. But we realized that if we want to do well here we need bowlers who can bowl over 135 to 140 kmph,” he said.
Abu Jayed too was dropped from the side despite being part of the squad for the tours of South Africa and New Zealand.
“Look we’ve bowled out South Africa twice and what I feel is that our pace bowlers dominated in South Africa despite Taijul picking up six wickets. In the ODI series, our three pace bowlers bowled over 140 kmph. It was a pleasure seeing our fast bowlers literally terrorizing their opponents in South Africa and that is what we’re looking for,” he said.
“We always knew that we needed to have fast bowlers but we didn’t have that in our possession. I don’t feel we can attack with bowlers who bowl 125 or 130 kmph. We’ve picked Raja (for the opening Test squad against Sri Lanka) as he’s quite quick,” he concluded.
Abu Jayed played his last Test match against Pakistan at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on November 26, 2021 where Pakistan won by 8 wickets. Abu Jayed went wicketless in both innings he bowled.
Also read: BCB Appoints Rajin Saleh as Interim Fielding Coach of Bangladeshhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mominul_Haque
Bangladesh Squad
BCB announced a 23-member squad for the series where Mominul Haque would continue to lead the side.
Mominul Haque (Captain), Tamim Iqbal Khan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Kumar Das, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Taijul Islam, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Quazi Nurul Hasan Sohan, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Shohidul Islam, Shoriful Islam (subject to fitness)
