Nafees knows that his performance against the West Indies will be vital to his chances of being a regular face in the national team

After a year of being left out of the Bangladesh team, batsman Shahriar Nafees is grateful to have received a second chance to show his worth against the West Indies.

Nafees last represented Bangladesh in a Test match against Pakistan, during which he scored a magnificent 97 in the first innings.

However, Nafees knows that if he does not produce a stunning performance against the West Indies, then his time in the national team could well be at an end since more and more talented batsmen are starting to rise through the ranks.

“I don’t want to bring up the FTP and use it as an excuse,” Nafees said. “If I don’t do well, nobody will remember what I did or didn’t do in the last year. If I do well, people will say that I have made a successful comeback.

“We played well against West Indies last year and did well individually against Pakistan. So if a player can continue playing cricket that would only be a good thing. The players don’t have control over the FTP, so we have to make the best use of opportunities.”

Nafees was left out of the Bangladesh squad after that Test match against Pakistan and soon got himself into trouble when playing for Bangladesh A after he got in a heated dispute with an umpire and was sent home as a result of it.

Despite being handed a suspended ban by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for the incident, Nafees was included in the Banglasdesh A team in September.

Nafees’ domestic cricketing career has not been very impressive since he has only scored 528 runs in 23 matches.

However, it was in form in 2011, where he scored five half-centuries, including his innings of 97 against Pakistan that brought him back to the national team.

“I am happy, I played well in ODIs last year and got runs in Test cricket. I played regularly in 2011 so I was pretty happy. But I haven’t played after a gap, so I have to do well,” Nafees said.

Nafees is also aware of the damage West Indies spinner Sunil Narine can inflict on the rather spin-friendly pitches of Bangladesh and the danger posed by their ruthless pace attack as well.

“They are in good form. Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards and Tino Best are their strike bowlers and they also have some good spinners. We can’t just work on one bowler because they are on a high note. We have to take everyone seriously,” Nafees added.

Nafees will definitely remember being struck in the face by Edwards during the first Test last year, but he noted that he was ready to face any short-pitched deliveries the West Indies pace attack might have for him this time round.

West Indies pace bowler Rampaul noted that the use of short-pitched deliveries were likely to come in handy if it proved to be a batsman’s major weakness.

“It’s too early to say how the wicket will play, we have some good quick fast bowlers who bowl at 90 miles an hour, and if we put the ball in the right areas we will do well. As a bowling unit we tend to look at the batsmen and at their weakness, if the short ball is one of their weaknesses then we will exploit it,” Rampaul said.

Having toured Bangladesh numerous times throughout his career, Rampaul stated that he was used to the conditions and knows what to expect from the pitches.

“From past experience, I can say that the wicket in Bangladesh is slow and it helps the spinners. It’s basically a wicket where you’ll have to use your variation. We have played in all parts of the world. We will just try to stick to the basics and bowl well,” Rampaul added.