Bangladesh v England Test series – Combined XI

After a tightly fought contest in the ODI series which England won 2-1, the host nation Bangladesh moved to the longest format of the game looking to create history. The pitches were tailor-made to support the spinners of the home side and it was going to be a test of the techniques for the visitors. England was on a long tour to the subcontinent and it was the ideal preparation for the big tour to India.

The first Test saw a gripping competition between the two sides and England was pushed to the limits. But at the end, they managed to snatch the victory from the jaws of Bangladesh. It was a low scoring game and England were bundled out for 293 in the first innings. The bowlers pulled back the game as they dismissed Bangladesh for 248 and the batsmen added 240 runs in the second innings to give Bangladesh a target of 286 runs. The hosts came agonizingly close to the target but missed it by just 22 runs on day 4.

Bangladesh turned the fortunes in the second Test as they created history by defeating England for the first time. England had a lead of 24 runs after the first innings but the Bangladeshi batsmen managed to score 296 runs in the second innings and a challenging target of 273 runs was set for England. They began the chase very well as the openers put on 100 runs for the first wicket. But just then the spinners raised the bar and dismissed the 10 wickets for just 64 runs to hand the team a win by 108 runs.

Here is a look at the combined XI from both sides as the series was shared 1-1 between the two sides:

1. Tamim Iqbal

The dynamic left-hander had a tremendous time and was the leading run-getter in the series. He scored 231 runs in 4 innings at an average of 57.75 with a century and a half-century. The efforts become even more valuable for the fact that the run-scoring was difficult and the bowlers were dominating. Where most other batsmen failed, he stood out and played a pivotal role in the team’s success.

His highest score of 104 runs came in the second Test where the team’s total was 220. He alone scored the 47% of the team’s overall score. In the second innings as well he played a crucial knock of 40 runs. He had another good score of 78 in the first innings of the first Test which helped the side to reach 248.