Taijul Islam didn’t speak a lot in the byte provided by the Bangladesh Cricket Board after Bangladesh had their first training session in Darwin ahead of their landmark Test series in Australia.

The left-arm spinner praised the practice facilities while mentioning that they had a good practice session on the first day.

However, Bangladesh’s most successful Test bowler, along with Mehidy Hasan Miraz, might have a role to play in the series, despite the ‘unknown’ conditions.

The Marrara Stadium in Darwin, also known as the TIO Stadium, is set to host its first Test since 2004.

After 2006, there was also just a solitary first-class game played at the venue last year between Australia A and Sri Lanka A.

Wickets were shared between pace and spin, it was reported, before the surface flattened. There were five fifties from the Australian side in the first innings before the visitors batted out the final day.

Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Sonal Dinusha had some success in the drawn affair, as he took 4-97, bowling 33 overs, in the first innings. Australia also played Zenden Jeh, another left-arm spinner, who bowled 32 overs in the match.

Bangladesh national team chief selector Habibul Bashar was part of the national team when the Tigers played a Test in Darwin when they visited Australia for a Test series last time.

He found that the conditions there were unlike other Australian regions, as it was somewhat similar to Bangladesh. However, since it will be a drop-in pitch, the conditions may be unpredictable.

The Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay, the venue for the second Test, however, has more experience in hosting first-class games in recent times.

Australia A played two games against their Indian and New Zealand counterparts, while there had been Sheffield Shield fixtures of the hosts, Queensland.

Australian pacers dominated the first innings against India. A before their off-spinner Todd Murphy came in handy in the second.

In the fixture against New Zealand A, Australian left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann bowled 40 overs in the match to remain wicketless.

Since January 2020, spinners have taken 170 wickets at an average of 38.16 in Test matches in Australia. That’s roughly 17.70 per cent of the total wickets that fell.

And 54.11 per cent of those wickets taken by spinners belong to Nathan Lyon, Australia’s greatest-ever finger-spinner.

Lyon remained as the sole specialist spinner in the Australia squad against Bangladesh. However, whether Australia go with an all-pace bowling attack remains to be seen.

Lyon was dropped in two Test matches for Australia in recent times, but both were day-night Tests with pink balls.

Cameron Green and Beau Webster offer pace-bowling all-rounder options for the hosts. However, Bangladesh are without that breed; the closest they have got is Soumya Sarkar, returning to Tests in more than five years.

So it’s highly expected that Bangladesh go with two spinners—Taijul and Miraz.

Taijul averages 40 in away Tests, more than 10 of his career average, while Miraz spends almost nine more runs to pick up a wicket in away Tests.

What Darwin and Mackay offer remains to be seen, but if Bangladesh were to do something special, they might have had roles to play.