The selection panel led by Faruque Ahmed called up two all-rounders Sakib Al Hasan and Forhad Reza into the senior side considering their impressive performances at different levels in the last two seasons.

Sakib is a solid left-handed batsman who also bowls useful left-arm spin while Forhad is a seam bowler and can bat in the middle-order.

The latter has been brought in, it seems, to fill the void left by all-rounder Khaled Mahmud.

"Both are genuine all-rounders and we believe that these two young cricketers would be effective in the shorter-version game. We are totally against bringing about massive changes but at the same time we didn't want to ignore young performers," said the chief selector.

"Sakib has already proved his ability in the under-19 and A teams, especially a very impressive performance during Bangladesh A's last tour in Zimbabwe while Forhad was always on our minds for his notable domestic record," he added.

Opener Nafees Iqbal and left-arm spinner Enamul Haque were the two notable absentees on the list as the Tigers are going to play only one-day games against the two African countries.

"This time there is no longer-version matches that's why we dropped them. We still believe that they are effective for the longer-version. They have been included in the A team to tour Zimbabwe where they will play three four-dayers," Faruque explained.

There are a number of players in the national squad who were also included in the Bangladesh A team to tour Zimbabwe like skipper Tushar Imran and Faruque believed that it would be helpful for the national side.

"After returning from Zimbabwe, the A team players will get a week's break to join the national side," he said.

The selected cricketers are asked to report to coach Dav Whatmore, who returned yesterday after enjoying holidays at home, at 7.30am on June 1 at the Bangladesh Army Stadium.

Ace batsman Mohammad Ashraful, however, will miss the preliminary camp as the right-hander is now playing in the Liverpool league in England.

"He is allowed to join the team one week before our departure. I think there is no problem for Ashraful skipping training as he is in touch," said Faruque.

Bangladesh are expected to visit Kenya for three one-dayers prior their Zimbabwe trip but the respective boards have yet to finalise the schedule.

On the other hand, Zimbabwe Cricket had recently sent a proposed itinerary for the five-match one-day series in July-August but it was yet to be disclosed officially as Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is not fully satisfied with the tight schedule.

SQUAD
Habibul Bashar, Shahriar Nafees, Javed Omar, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Tushar Imran, Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Manjarul Islam, Khaled Mashud, Mushfiqur Rahim, Alok Kapali, Forhad Reza, Sakib Al Hasan, Mashrafee Bin Mortuza, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain and Tapash Baisya.