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Tamim Iqbal has recently begun his fitness work ahead of the NCL T20, where he’s expected to make a comeback to competitive cricket. 

But it’s uncertain whether the former Bangladesh captain will ever be seen in the national colours again, as there’s no indication either from Tamim or the Bangladesh Cricket Board. 

Imrul Kayes has recently retired from first-class cricket after the fifth round of the National Cricket League. 

These two, together, formed the most successful opening partnership for Bangladesh in Test cricket.

They opened the innings for Bangladesh 53 times and averaged 45.80, which included a record 312-run partnership against Pakistan at Khulna in 2015. 

But the pair was last seen in 2018 against Sri Lanka at Mirpur. Since then, Tamim has opened the batting with six other partners. 

His most successful pairing in terms of average (41.33) was with Shadman Islam, while the only hundred partnership was with Mahmudul Hasan.

But the problem is, Tamim hasn’t played since April last year. Since then, Bangladesh have tried with three different opening partnerships. 

Those are basically the combinations from three batters—Mahmudul, Shadman, and Zakir Hasan. 

Mahmudul and Zakir have opened 10 times, the most among this trio. From the small data set, the most successful has been the pair of the two lefties—Shadman and Zakir, as they average 34.42. But that is also significantly low compared to the pair of Tamim and Imrul. 

As Bangladesh are on the verge of yet another Test series, this time against the West Indies, the opening pair has been under magnifying glass again. 

As regular captain Najmul Hossain Shanto has been ruled out of the series due to a groin injury, the trio might be in the same XI together as they were against South Africa in Chattogram last month. 

All three of them have played at least 10 Tests but yet to reach the 20-Test mark, with Shadman playing the most number of matches—19. 

The trio is yet to cement their place in the national team, with everyone coming back and forth. 

Abdur Razzak, one of the national selectors, believes that the system will be good enough to fill any kind of void. 

‘It’s difficult to leave one out after seeing in a series or in the NCL. There will be knocks on the door.’ Razzak told reporters in Mirpur on Wednesday.

‘I’m certain that those who play in the national team will hear that knock. It’s a simple process; we don’t have to do anything. The system will take care’, he added. 

He further said, ‘If someone knocking at the door is good enough, then he will come into the team. And if someone cannot perform, he will be out.’ 

But the question is, how long will it take for the system to work out to bring a solid opening partnership that has been so vital in a format like Test?