Tigers WC squad to be announced Tuesday

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is set to announce its much-expected World Cup (WC) squad tomorrow amid the injury concern to several key players.

Bangladesh, however, will wait till the last deadline as far as selecting their squad is concerned, said the BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon, reports BSS.

“Initially we felt that we need to announce the team by April 18 and it cannot be changed easily unless there are any injury issues. But now we came to know that we can still have time until May 22 and we can change the team during this time frame without asking anyone,” Nazmul said in Dhaka today.

Bangladesh will be hoping that they can have a full fit squad ahead of the World Cup as they have been hit by injuries to several key players. The injury list, however, is long enough. But BCB chief physician Devashis Chowdhury said that all of the players are expected to be fit ahead of the cricket’s biggest extravaganza that begins on May 30 in England and Wales.

Left arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman sprained his ankle after warming up for a Dhaka Premier League (DPL) match on Thursday, joining a growing injury list which includes batsman Mahmudullah Riyad and pace bowler Rubel Hossain.

Bangladesh had previously barred the injury-prone Mustafizur from playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) ahead of the World Cup, which starts May 30.

It had let him take part in the domestic 50-over league to keep match-fit however.

The new injury is expected to sideline him for at least two weeks.

“Mustafizur is slightly better now. We are hopeful he will play the World Cup,” Devashis Chowdhury said while he is being kept busy by the squad.

Mahmudullah aggravated a shoulder injury during a recent tour of New Zealand and only returned to tentative training last week.

Rubel Hossain has been suffering from a side strain.

“We hope to start his training session within a day or two,” said Devashis.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, who missed the two Tests in New Zealand started individual training last week while batsman Tamim Iqbal also resumed his batting practice.

Pace bowler Taskin Ahmed, who was in superb form before a ligament injury ruled out him of the New Zealand tour, played one domestic league game last week.

Off-spinner Mehidy Hasan hurt his thumb in a league game last week but returned to action on Monday.

However, Devashis was hopeful all of the squad would be match-fit for the tournament.

“With the amount of time we have and the current improvement rate of the players, I don’t think anyone will miss the World Cup,” he said.

Bangladesh still face a race against time, however, as they are to play a tri nation one-day international tournament in Ireland from May 5 against Ireland and the West Indies.

“We hope we can field all our regular players in the tri-nation and World Cup,” said chief selector Minhajul Abedin.