Bangladesh have named quite a fresh squad for the upcoming Twenty20 International series against Sri Lanka. Veteran opener Tamim Iqbal and left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman return to the squad having missed the South Africa series due to injuries. The selectors, on Saturday (February 10) also named as many as five uncapped players in the 15-member squad. The squad will be led by allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, who missed the Tests against Sri Lanka due to injury.
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Abu Jayed, Ariful Haque, Mahedi Hasan, Zakir Hasan and Afif Hossain have been roped in for the two T20Is with as many as seven players from the South Africa series missing the cut. Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Mehidy Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain and Taskin Ahmed are the ones to be left out from the side.
Bangladesh squad: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Abu Hider, Abu Jayed, Ariful Haque, Mahedi Hasan, Zakir Hasan, Afif Hossain.
Chief selector Minhajul Abedin told Cricbuzz that they have opted to make several changes as they are looking for a new set-up for the shortest format. “We want to see the ability of some of our potentials during the T20 series,” said Minhajul. “We are still to become a force in T20 format so we are trying to see how we can get the service of these youngsters who were performing well in domestic cricket.”
Minhajul said he was excited to see the kind of impact Ariful Haque can have as he is considered one of the cleanest hitter of the ball and a valuable batsman down the order. The 25-year-old Ariful came up with useful contributions for Khulna Titans in the Bangladesh Premier League 2017 and was the third-highest run-getter for his team.
“He is a future prospect and we are in desperately looking for someone who can play range of strokes coming to bat at seven,” said Minhajul. “Every other team have players in this position who have the ability to turn the fortune of the game in very short time. We feel he [Ariful] has such ability with what we have seen so far.”
The T20I series gets underway on February 15 in Dhaka while the second game, scheduled for February 18, will take place in Sylhet.
