Bangladesh fast bowler Shoriful Islam is looking forward to bowling with the Dukes ball after being selected into the squad for the second Test against the West Indies, which begins on June 24 in St Lucia. Shoriful left Dhaka for the West Indies on Monday (June 20), having recovered sufficiently from a wrist injury incurred during the Sri Lanka series.
On June 11, Islam began bowling in the nets in preparation for the white-ball formats on the Caribbean trip for which he was selected. His remarkable progress, on the other hand, led team management to call him over earlier to join the Test squad. It could also be a strategy to keep Mustafizur Rahman out of the second Test.
Shoriful told about how excited he is for playing in the West Indies, he said “I have heard a lot of things about Dukes balls but still have not touched it. When I will reach there hopefully I will get the chance to have a look at the ball (Dukes) and I am very excited,”
“I was very keen to play the Test in West Indies and let’s see what happens. I am feeling well (after recovering from an injury) and I feel that I am in a good state at the moment.
“No one wants to get injured and after picking up an injury, naturally I feel bad when I am doing the rehabilitation because everyone wants to be playing and missing matches certainly hurts and at that point, it really feels bad and when I make a comeback it always gives me a good feeling,” he added.
Bowling with Duke balls has remained a huge problem for Bangladeshi fast bowlers, given that none of their current crop of cricketers has played with it before the first Test in Antigua. The team was bowled out early and did not give much contention to the opponents.
