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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

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