As it was expected, experienced duo Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das returned to Bangladesh's squad for the upcoming five-match T20 International series against New Zealand next month.
Leg-spinner Aminul Islam Biplob was the other one to make the cut alongside those two batsmen as the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced a 19-member team for the series on Thursday.
When they made their way, middle order batsman Mohammad Mithun was the only one from the last squad against Australia who was dropped.
Mushfiqur, Aminul Islam and Liton though were not the part of the squad that played against Australia, they were in the team for the side’s last away series in Zimbabwe. But for different reasons they missed some parts of the Zimbabwe series.
Mushfiqur had to return to the country after playing the Test against Zimbabwe due to being with his ailing parents while Liton Das came back home ahead of the T20 series in Zimbabwe due to his father-in-law’s illness. Aminul’s father died before he played any match in the Zimbabwe series.
Amongst the trio, Mushfiqur was keen to play the five-match T20 series against Australia but the Aussie’s stringent bio-bubble rules forced him to miss the series that Bangladesh eventually won by 4-1. That was Bangladesh's first bilateral series victory against Australia in any format.
Sans Mithun, the players who were the part of the squad against Australia retained their place. Mithun however didn’t play any match against Australia despite being in the team.
BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu however believed the squad had the potentiality to win the series against New Zealand too.
“We had already proved that we are a strong team on our home soil. If the players can translate the same performance against New Zealand, we will have the edge,” Abdein told the reporters here a few days ago.
But the batting would be Bangladesh’s main headache after no one of them could show any stability in the series against Australia. The wicket was tough for batting. But Mushfiqur’s inclusion could stabilize the batting.
While the batsmen were not up to the mark, the bowlers, specially pacers Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam were excellent in this slow track In spin department, Shakib Al Hasan as usually was at his best and ended up being man of the series for one more time.
New Zealand will arrive in Dhaka on August 24 after which they will stay in room quarantine for three days. They however had already opted out of the only practice game in the series that was scheduled, Instead they will get down the field for a five-match series straight away with the first game being slated for September 1. The next four matches are scheduled to be held on September 3, 5, 8 and 10.
All of the matches will take place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium and start at 4 pm.
Squad: Mahmudullah Riyad (Captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Kumer Das, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Afif Hossain, Naim Sheikh, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shamim Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Saifuddin, Shoriful Islam, Taijul Islam, Sheikh Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam Biplob, Nasum Ahmed
Source: BSS