Vital query that needs answers

Mominul Haque has been reintroduced into the squad for the first Test against Australia after a lot of drama, for now putting an end to the whirlwind regarding team selection even though fears remain about how much harm the current muddled selection process will cause the country's cricket in the long term.

However, there is still much curiosity about whether the diminutive left-hander will get a call to the final eleven for the first Test starting from August 27 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. It must be ensured that the decision on the final eleven will be taken 'without fear or favour, affection or ill-will'. There was hardly any doubt that Mominul deserved a place in the 14-member squad, but does he warrant a place in the eleven?

Mominul was not part of the eleven in Bangladesh's most recent and historic 100th Test in Sri Lanka that they famously won. If the last and winning combination is prioritised then Mominul has no chance. But there is a scope to raise questions about the number three position where Imrul Kayes batted in the last Test and scored 34 and 0. It is now no secret that announcing Mominul as a replacement for Mosaddek Hossain -- who batted at number eight and seven in that Test -- was nothing short of eyewash as Mominul can only fit in the top order.

One question that needs to be answered before thinking about Mominul's place is why the team management has been trying to establish Imrul as a number three batsman when the left-hander has proved that he is good at opening especially when his partnership with Tamim Iqbal looked to be gelling brilliantly.

"This is a vital question -- why the team management has been going against a settled opening partnership between Tamim and Imrul. Both left-handers showed that they have a good understanding and the record also shows that this opening pair works well for the team. Why are they trying to break a proven opening stand, I cannot understand," said coach Mohammad Salahuddin, who is also a mentor of Mominul.

Meanwhile, the record also speaks in favour of Salahuddin as the Imrul-Tamim partnership scored 2205 runs in 48 innings at the average of 47.93 with four hundred partnerships and eight half-century stands. On the other hand Imrul has an average of 34.66 in three matches at number three which includes a hundred. However, his highest score of 115 came in his first match at number three against Sri Lanka in Chittagong in February 2014, when Shamsur Rahman opened with Tamim, but in his next five innings at number three Imrul has scored just 93 runs at 16.6.

"In my opinion, at this moment Mominul is the best option at number three," said Salahuddin.

Mentor to a number of national players, Salahuddin however wanted Mominul to rise to the challenge. "Mominul is altogether a different character who is hardly driven by emotion, so I am hopeful that he will take all the opportunities with both hands. And I think he can take the inspiration from Shakib [Al Hasan], who just believes in speaking through his performances."