Off-colour Taijul could lose his place for Sylhet Test

Taijul, Bangladesh's highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, has only picked up just five wickets in his last four Test matches after returning 7 for 138 against Zimbabwe in a defeat in Harare in July. Taijul has also picked up injuries in this period - a left shoulder injury the one that has hurt him the most.

"It's hugely concerning because he's one of the major spinners we have in the team," Simmons said ahead of the Sylhet Test. "When you're discussing [Taijul's form] with him, it is concerning for him too, as well as for the team, because he is a major weapon that we have in this team."

So extreme has 34-year-old Taijul's struggle been that Bangladesh might look at entering the Test without him and, therefore, without a left-arm spinner: "[That] is something that you have to think about, when we talk in a little while," Simmons said.

But Bangladesh's bigger concern is their batting, which hasn't fired in any format since the Darwin Test win. Since that famous win in mid-August, Bangladesh have not won a match in any format, losing both matches in the Asian Games, then everything the UAE ODI tri-series, and then the first Test against West Indies.

"Since Darwin, we haven't batted well," Simmons said. "We showed what we are capable if there if the determination to bat is there, but since that [Darwin Test], we have not batted well in the formats we have played.

"I don't think it's hard to replicate [the performance in Darwin]. I think the one thing I can tell you is that the guys have been working hard. They are working in the same intensity and the same way they worked before Darwin. It's the same way we worked before [the Test series in May at home against] Pakistan, but it's just not been put in place in the match. We just have to make sure that we get to that level again where we put it in place in the match and not just work hard outside."

Bangladesh lost 16 wickets to the spin of Roston Chase, Jomel Warrican and Joshua Bishop in Dhaka, while their own spinners picked up just eight, all in the first innings.

"We take it upon ourselves that we didn't bat as well as we could do. They bowled well, but again, that's Test cricket, they are here to bowl well," Simmons said. "We have to step up the way we bat and how we play them, how we score against them, how we defend against them, everything which we didn't do properly in the first Test match."

In the absence of Mominul Haque, who suffered a concussion in the first Test, captain Najmul Hossain Shanto will bat at No. 3 again, with Mushfiqur Rahim returning to the middle order after sitting out the first Test with a finger injury. And the experience of those two batters will be key on a pitch where quick bowlers should have a say.

Is there space for Amite Hasan?

Bangladesh have added Amite Hasan to the squad as Mominul's replacement.

Amite is a wicketkeeper-batter who has played just one Test so far, against Zimbabwe in July. He is arguably the best domestic batter in Bangladesh in the last five years and scored his third first-class double-century in the National Cricket League recently, his average going up to 62.23 in the process.

He might not get into the XI in Sylhet, though.

"The next step for him is that the next time he gets his chance up here, to do as well as he's been doing at domestic level," Simmons said. "It's a difference in level by some bit, but again, he goes back and he does what he needs to do there. So now, next time he gets his chance up here, he needs to show that he can do it up here also."

Mohammad Isam is Cricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84