Bangladesh add uncapped Saif Hassan, Shahidul Islam, Yasir Ali and Akbar Ali for the T20Is
Mushfiqur, who has played 99 T20Is, made 95 runs in five matches in the Super 12s including a half-century against Sri Lanka. Some of his dismissals however, especially his missed scoop and reverse-sweeps, became topic of intense discussion back in Bangladesh.
“We have four back-to-back Test matches against Pakistan and New Zealand,” Minhajul said. “He is a key player. He is one of our best players. Tamim Iqbal is already injured. He is in doubt for the Test series. We want our best player to give his best during the Test series, so after consulting extensively with the team management, we have decided to rest him. It is only for the Pakistan series. He will be available later.”
Including Shakib Al Hasan’s hamstring injury, Bangladesh only have captain Mahmudullah as one of their much vaunted experienced cricketers left in the 16-man squad announced on Tuesday. Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das and Rubel Hossain are also ousted from the side too.
The national selectors have instead gone for a youth-heavy side by including Saif Hassan, Shahidul Islam, Yasir Ali and Akbar Ali among the six inclusions. Najmul Hossain Shanto and legspinner Aminul Islam are also in the side.
There are first-time call-ups for fast bowler Shahidul and top-order batter Akbar, Bangladesh’s captain when they won the Under-19 World Cup last year. Saif has played Tests but it is his first inclusion in T20Is. Yasir has been in Test squads this year, but hasn’t played international cricket yet.
Liton and Soumya were already playing for Rangpur Division and Khulna Division respectively in the National Cricket League. But they can still make it back into Bangladesh’s T20I plans, according to Minhajul.
“We have just come from a disappointing T20 World Cup. It was unexpected,” he said. “We didn’t have a bad team. We won both the T20I series at home this year. Still, we are trying to start afresh. Our planning for the next T20 World Cup begins after this season’s BPL, but we want to start well in this series.
“Those who are dropped, they have to do well in the domestic competitions. The BPL is coming up. Nobody will be forgotten. We have to keep them in the system. We have the A team programme. We also have the High Performance Unit. We will keep everyone we need, in these squads.”
IN: Saif Hassan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Aminul Islam, Shahidul Islam, Yasir Ali, Akbar Ali
OUT: Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan (hamstring injury), Mushfiqur Rahim, Rubel Hossain
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84