While Litton Das’ late inclusion to the Bangladesh squad was a boost, top-order—especially the opening—frailties remained a concern for them in the forthcoming two-match Test series against Australia.

The national selection panel, led by Habibul Bashar, dropped Mahmudul Hasan from the squad and replaced him with Soumya Sarkar, bringing him back from limbo.

Although Soumya has been featuring in both white-ball formats, his last Test appearance was in 2021 at Mirpur against the West Indies.

During this period, as many as 10 players opened the innings for Bangladesh. Surprisingly, Mahmudul had played the most number of matches (23) as well as innings (43) as an opener.

The highest average as a Bangladeshi opener during this period belongs to, unsurprisingly, Tamim Iqbal, the current president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

Tamim left too big of a hole for his successors, as different selection panels have been juggling with the limited options.

The pair of Mahmudul and Shadman Islam have been the most frequent for Bangladesh in recent times. In fact, they opened 20 times together, the second most for Bangladesh in history. However, they have been averaging only 28.6.

They had reached 100 runs twice, while crossing fifty another time. However, two of those hundred-run partnerships came against Ireland; even the fifty was also against the same opposition.

Tanzid Hasan, who retained his place in the squad, came as a part of the team’s intention of playing aggressive cricket. However, he has so far played only a solitary Test against Pakistan.

As Australia announced a full-strength squad for the series, it’s most likely that Bangladesh will have to face the trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood. Australia might also play Scot Bolland as a fourth pacer.

And as a result, the openers will have to face a challenging time. Their roles in seeing off the new balls will also become more vital. While Mominul Haque is an ever-assured name in the top order, who plays at three, an unstable opening partnership can only make his life more difficult.

However, captain Najmul Hossain Shanto backed his openers to do well in ‘unknown’ conditions.

‘Our openers have been playing international cricket for many years. There is always a lot of discussion about the opening position because perhaps the consistent performances haven’t come as expected,’ he said.

‘But opening the batting is one of the toughest roles in cricket and comes with many challenges. Sometimes you have to go out to bat with only five overs left in the day, and other times you have to face a damp or moisture-laden pitch.

‘They are preparing themselves to handle those challenges. If we can improve in this area and become more consistent, our Test team will take another step forward,’ he added.

Shanto also mentioned that they were excited to face the Australian bowling attack.

‘Personally, I believe this is a great opportunity to perform well against such a high-quality bowling attack. Our batters are very excited to take on this challenge. Rather than worrying about how many runs we’ll put on the board, what’s important is how well we handle the challenge and enjoy the experience,’ he said.

‘These are bowlers we used to watch on TV, and now we have the chance to play against them. As a cricketer, that gives me a great deal of excitement,’ he added.