The fixation with bowling left-arm bowlers to right-handed batsmen and vice-versa came back to haunt the Tigers on the second day of the first Test against Sri Lanka.
After posting 513, Bangladesh were off to a brilliant start with the ball as off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz grabbed the wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne with the Sri Lanka score at zero.
Mehedi’s turner found the outside edge of Karunatne’s bat as the Tigers made an early breakthrough. However, following that wicket-taking over, Mehedi did not bowl again until the 14th over of the innings.
It is one of those strange captaincy calls that the Tigers have suffered from before. During and ODI match back in 2014 in Dhaka, when Sri Lanka were eight down for 67 runs, then Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim decided that Mahmudullah Riyad’s part-time off-spin would be a better option against left-handed Thisara Perera than left-arm spinners Shakib Al Hasan or Arafat Sunny. Bangladesh ultimately went on to lose that game.
Mehedi bowled a short two-over spell today, when he bowled the 14th and 16th over before he was held back again -- only coming back to bowl the 31st over for a regular spell, with the batsmen well set at the crease. Despite the fact that Mehedi bagged a wicket in his very first over, the Tigers' fixation with bowling left-arm bowlers to right-arm batsmen caused them to bowl Sunzamul Islam and Taijul Islam against Kusal Mendis and De Silva.
