Mashrafe Mortaza will captain the Bangladesh side in its ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 campaign, with Shakib Al Hasan named the vice-captain of the 15-man squad announced on Sunday (January 4).
The selectors have picked a squad with a blend of youth, experience and balance, with five specialist batsmen and six specialist bowlers backed by three allrounders and a wicketkeeper.
Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim will form the core of the side alongside Mortaza and Shakib, while among the younger lot, there were call-ups for Soumya Sarkar, the 21-year-old allrounder who has done well in domestic cricket this season, Taskin Ahmed, the 19-year-old fast bowler, and Taijul Islam, who had a sensational ODI debut against Zimbabwe where he picked up 4 for 11 to became the first bowler to take a hat-trick on ODI debut. Taskin too had an impressive start to his career when he bagged a five-wicket haul on debut during the second ODI against India in June.
Bangladesh will leave for Australia on January 24, and will play two unofficial practice matches apart from the warm-up fixtures against Pakistan and Ireland.
Bangladesh is placed in Group A along with Australia, England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Scotland. It will start its World Cup campaign against Afghanistan at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on February 17.
Squad:
Mashrafe Mortaza (capt)
Shakib Al Hasan (vice-capt)
Tamim Iqbal
Anamul Haque
Mominul Haque
Mahmudullah Riaz
Mushfiqur Rahim (wk)
Nasir Hossain
Taijul Islam
Taskin Ahmed
Al-Amin Hossain
Rubel Hossain
Soumya Sarkar
Sabbir Rahman
Arafat Sunny
