Denesh Ramdin, the West Indies wicketkeeper, believes that the presence of two attacking spinners in their line-up on pitches similar to the ones in the Caribbean will give West Indies useful attacking options in the two-Test series which begins in Dhaka on November 13, reported ESPNcricinfo.
“The pitches here are similar to a lot of pitches back in the Caribbean. Slow and the ball spins a bit,” Ramdin said. “It will be to our advantage with Sunil Narine and Veerasammy Permaul, who’s on debut. If we go into the Test with two spinners, we’ll have to try and bowl them out.”
This is West Indies’ third full tour to Bangladesh, having won the Test series in 2002 and 2011. On the first occasion, a four-man pace attack was enough to see off the hosts who were only in their third year of playing Test cricket. Last year, Fidel Edwards hurried the batsmen throughout the series but in the crucial second innings of the second Test, legspinner Devendra Bishoo took a five-for to finish off Bangladesh. This time West Indies not only have Narine and Permaul, but also the likes of Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Narsingh Deonarine.
“It is a good pitch at the stadium here [Mirpur, the venue of the first Test]. The bowlers will give us the wickets, Sunil Narine will be playing here for the first time. The pitches here will assist him and hopefully he’ll continue where he left off against New Zealand,” Ramdin said.
The tourists, who arrived on Monday morning, will hold their first training session on Wednesday. They play a three-day practice match against the BCB XI from Thursday at the BKSP ground – West Indies’ first longer-format match in three months.