The Test aspirants who featured for Bangladesh A in the recently concluded three unofficial Tests against the West Indies A team have failed to meet the expectations of the team management, said Bangladesh national team selector Habibul Bashar.

With the forthcoming one-off Test against Afghanistan scheduled to be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium from June 14 to 18, the Bangladesh Cricket Board named several Test campaigners in the A team squad as a part of their preparation for the Test series.

Bangladesh lost the series 0-1, with most of the Test team members performing poorly.

With the likes of former Test skipper Mominul Haque, Shoriful Islam, Zakir Hasan, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, and Saif Hasan representing the A team against the West Indies, only Joy and Saif could prove their worth.

Joy scored an unbeaten 114 on the final day of the third match to salvage a much-needed draw at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Friday, while Saif also scored a valuable 95 in the first unofficial Test to help the A team earn a draw at the same venue.

Apart from Joy and Saif, Bashar praised uncapped top-order batsman Shahadat Hossain Dipu for his 73 and 50 in the second unofficial Test that the West Indies won by three wickets.

‘No, they couldn’t [Test team players] play as per our expectations. We expected them to perform better than they did. Despite providing a flat wicket, our batsmen totally failed to capitalise on the opportunities,’ Bashar told New Age on Saturday.

‘Joy’s hundred was the highlight for our team; he looked pretty good. Apart from him, Shahadat [Dipu] and Saif Hasan were also impressive. Still, we expected better execution from them.’

Among the Test campaigners, Mominul’s performance was perhaps the worst. The 31-year-old top-order batsman, who was included in the squad for the third and final unofficial Test in an attempt to level the series, could only make five in the first innings, followed up by the same score in the next innings.

Young opener Zakir Hasan, who hit a ton on his Test debut against India back in December 2022 in Chattogram, failed to score a fifty in the series as he made highest 43 in three games.

Right-arm pacer Shoriful Islam, who was also included in the third match, picked up two wickets conceding 80 runs in the first innings and remained wicketless in the second innings.

Nurul, who was brought in for the third match, also failed to draw the selector’s attention as he could only make 28 runs.

However, the former national team captain was not worried at all when his attention was drawn to Mominul’s poor outing in the match ahead of the Test series against Afghanistan.

‘We are not worried at all. Look, it was just a preparation game for him. So, there is no point in being worried about it,’ said Bashar.

Bashar also clarified that although left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed, who has yet to get a Test cap, scalped seven wickets in the third match, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee his inclusion in the Test against the Afghans.

‘Nasum is our regular white-ball campaigner. It was really good to see him take five wickets in the first innings and another two in the second. Though he got seven wickets, he was expensive in both innings.’

The 28-year-old Nasum took 5-133 in the first innings, followed by 2-56 in the second innings.