West Indies might tour Bangladesh as the superior side in Tests, by virtue of their past records, but a rejuvenated Bangladesh team has proved to be the pompous side in their backyard.
Bangladesh enjoyed a 3-0 whitewash in the ODI series that saw West Indies’ depleted squad, which had as many as 10 players pulling out of the tour owing to the pandemic, struggling severely.
With an inexperienced Kraigg Brathwaite captaining the West Indies Test team and Jermaine Blackwood playing the vice-captain, the visitors don’t look in a good position to see positive results in the longest format as well. Here are the numbers.
West Indies’ precarious away form
The Men in Maroon have struggled for form away from home in Tests, winning just one in their last five matches. They have been beaten by England twice and New Zealand thrice.
Furthermore, West Indies are yet to win a match at Chattogram's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, the venue for the first Test match against Bangladesh that starts from February 3, Wednesday.
| West Indies while batting first away in the last 5 test matches | |||
| Runs | Oppositions | Ground | Date |
| 131 | vs New Zealand | Wellington | December 11, 2020 |
| 138 | vs New Zealand | Hamilton | December 3, 2020 |
| 197 | vs England | Manchester | July 24, 2020 |
| 287 | vs England | Manchester | July 16, 2020 |
| 318 | vs England | Southampton | July 8, 2020 |
If that wasn't enough, Bangladesh's superior batting from in their backyard will pose a tough task for West Indies as well. The Bangla Tigers had tallied first innings score of 324 and 508 runs, in Chattogram and Dhaka respectively, when West Indies toured Bangladesh in 2018.
Reduced Batting Firepower
With the absence of batsmen like Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran, Windies’ already poor batting numbers away from home is further expected to take a hit.
To reflect the underperforming visitors’ situation, here are the top five run-getters for West Indies in the last five away matches.
| Player | Match | Innings | Runs | Highest | Average | 100 | 50 | 50+ |
| KC Brathwaite | 5 | 5 | 162 | 75 | 32.4 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| J Blackwood | 5 | 5 | 130 | 69 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| SSJ Brooks | 5 | 5 | 126 | 68 | 25.2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| RL Chase | 5 | 5 | 118 | 51 | 23.6 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| SO Dowrich | 4 | 3 | 98 | 61 | 32.66 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
While West Indies are without a single player who has managed to make a ton away from home in the longest format, Bangladesh are filled with run-getters in their backyard, who could be potential matchwinners as well. Here are the top Bangladesh scorers in the last five home matches.
| Player | Match | Innings | Runs | Highest | Average | 100 | 50 | 50+ |
| Mominul Haque | 5 | 8 | 510 | 161 | 63.75 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Mushfiqur Rahim | 5 | 8 | 489 | 219* | 81.5 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Mahmudullah | 4 | 7 | 321 | 136 | 53.5 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Liton Das | 4 | 6 | 164 | 54 | 27.33 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Given the tremendous momentum that the Bangladesh cricket team has been in, as is evident from the ODI series, the hosts are undoubtedly the favourites to win the first Test match.
Feature Image Courtesy: AFP/ Saeed Khan
