Saifuddin last played T20Is for Bangladesh in October 2022 shortly before the T20 World Cup in Australia. He suffered a back injury which kept him out till January this year following which he returned during the BPL, where he took 15 wickets in nine matches in Fortune Barishal’s maiden BPL title run.
Left-handed opener Tanzid, meanwhile, has got a maiden T20I call-up. He has played 15 ODIs since his debut last year. He had a decent BPL campaign but was not part of the T20Is against Sri Lanka last month.
Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib Al Hasan are not in the squad for the first three matches. Shakib will return to Dhaka on April 30, after which he is likely to play a Dhaka Premier League [DPL] match before joining the squad for the remaining two matches. Mustafizur is set to arrive on May 2 after his IPL stint and will undergo a fitness assessment before being considered for the final two T20Is against Zimbabwe in Dhaka.
Anamul Haque, Taijul Islam and Mohammad Naim have been left out from the squad that played T20Is against Sri Lanka, while Soumya Sarkar is still recovering from the knee injury he suffered during the third ODI of that series.
The first three T20Is will be played in Chattogram on May 3, 5 and 7, before the action moves to Dhaka for the last two games on May 10 and 12.
Bangladesh squad for first three T20Is: Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan, Parvez Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Afif Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin