Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 205 Mon. December 20, 2004  
   
Sports


Squad for 1st ODI named


The selectors yesterday named a 14-member squad for the first of the three-match one-day internationals against India at the MA Aziz Stadium on December 23.

One change was made from the side that is playing the second Test here with all-rounder Khaled Mahmud coming in place of paceman Talha Jubair.

"We are against making too many changes in the one-day series. Talha was impressive on his comeback to Test cricket after two years. But we always consider him more suited for the longer version than the limited-overs matches and that's why we preferred Mahmud," said chief selector Faruque Ahmed while announcing the one-day squad at the MA Aziz Stadium on the third day of the second Test.

"Talha might not have been as successful as Mashrafee-Bin-Mortuza in the Test series but one should remember the strength of the opponents' batting and the kind of surface he is bowling on before passing judgment. We believe he has a bright future," added Faruque.

While the selectors picked Mahmud because of his good form in the on-going Premier League, another player keen to reclaim his place in the national side Alok Kapali missed the chance of a recall due to a wrist injury.

"Alok was another candidate in our list after his impressive performances in domestic cricket but we had to rule him out because he got injured," said the former Bangladesh captain.

Kapali, who has been in prolific form for defending Premier League champions Victoria, suffered a freakish injury while training for the BCB's High Performance squad.

Kapali however has a chance to play in either of the last two one-dayers at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on December 26 and 27 since selectors have decided to name each squad on a match-by-match basis.

FIRST ONE-DAY SQUAD: Habibul Bashar (captain), Khaled Mashud, Nafees Iqbal, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahman, Khaled Mahmud, Manzarul Islam, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Mashrafee-Bin-Mortuza and Nazmul Hossain.