Bangladesh batting coach Mohammad Ashraful backed openers Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Shadman Islam despite their below-par performances in the opening Test against Pakistan.
Joy scored 8 and 5 respectively, while Shadman managed 13 and 10 in the opening Test against Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Many are questioning whether the pair will retain their places for the second Test, especially after the selectors included in-form Tanzid Hasan in the squad. Ashraful, however, feels it is too early to press the panic button.
"No, it (the form of Bangladesh's Test openers) is not a matter of concern at all. If you look at the last Test series, our opening partnerships in the three innings were outstanding; we had 100-run partnerships. Shadman scored runs including an 80-run knock while Joy played his career-best innings of 171 ( against Ireland)," Ashraful told reporters following the day's play.
"Here, they didn't score in these two innings because we had to bat after losing the toss, and surviving the new ball wasn't easy. Things might not have gone as we hoped for them in these two innings, but the experienced batters covered it up brilliantly. I hope our two openers will return to form in the next match, inshallah," he said.
"In my view, those who performed recently - just two innings ago - definitely deserve more opportunities," he added.
Ashraful also said he was impressed with Mominul Haque's composure despite the left-hander being heavily sledged by the Pakistan players.
Mominul, who scored 56 in the second innings of the two-match series opener against Pakistan, became only the third Bangladesh batter after Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim to cross the 5,000-run mark in Test cricket.
"Look, Mominul is playing his 76th Test match and has scored 5,000 runs for Bangladesh. He has faced these kinds of challenges( sledging) many times in his career and has been successful," Ashraful said.
"We have seen many such innings in the past where he knew exactly how to handle these situations. It comes down to experience. He was very calm, and I think he didn't try to react against the sledging. Sledging happens... obviously, when a partnership is building, the opposition team wants quick wickets, which is why they resorted to sledging," he said.
"It's a great achievement (to score 5000 Test runs). We expect big hundreds from him, just like the big hundreds we used to see from Mominul early in his career. We hope to see that in the upcoming series and matches," he concluded.
Bangladesh remained firmly in control of the opening Test against Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium despite rain interruptions on the fourth day. The hosts extended their lead to 179 runs with seven wickets in hand, with captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim unbeaten on 58 and 16 respectively at stumps.
