© AFP
Batsmen Mominul Haque and Liton Das, and seamers Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam have been included in Bangladesh’s new-look squad for the two-match series against South Africa, starting October 26. Tamim Iqbal, Mustafizur Rahman, and Mosaddek Hossain were out injured, while Subashis Roy, Sunzamul Islam and Nurul Hasan were dropped from the side that toured Sri Lanka earlier this year.
All the fourteen selected players are currently part of the ODI squad in South Africa. Among the new inclusions, only Rubel has played T20Is this year while Nasir last represented Bangladesh in this format last year. Liton is likely to play his first T20I in nearly two years while Shafiul his first T20 in four years.
He was the fourth-highest wicket-taker in the BPL last season with 18 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 18.38 and an economy rate of 7.78. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin, on tour in South Africa as the team manager, said Shafiul’s BPL performance paved the way for his comeback and that Nasir’s all-round skills will add balance to the side.
“In the last BPL, Shafiul was above all,” Minhajul told ESPNcricinfo. “Mominul has replaced Tamim. He was with Test and ODI squad, so he got used to the experience [of playing in South Africa]. Rubel already has got the experience and [we picked] Nasir as we needed a batting allrounder.” Between Bangladesh’s last T20I series, in April in Sri Lanka and this series, only captain Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah have played competitive T20s.
Shakib will begin a new stint as captain after Mashrafe Mortaza had retired from T20Is in April.
Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Liton Das, Nasir Hossain, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin
IN: Mominul Haque, Liton Das, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam
OUT: Mashrafe Mortaza (retired), Tamim Iqbal (injured), Mustafizur Rahman (injured), Mosaddek Hossain (injured), Subashis Roy, Sunzamul Islam, Nurul Hasan
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo