Focus on spin in Zim series

The national selectors announced a 32-member preliminary squad yesterday for the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe.

The training camp for the three Tests and five ODIs will get underway today at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. The selectors made the long list as there is also an upcoming tour of the Bangladesh A team to India.

The Faruque Ahmed-led selection panel, which also includes Minhajul Abedin and Habibul Bashar, had a meeting with coach Chandika Hathurusingha where they discussed their plans for the series; their last international engagement before next year's World Cup to be held jointly by Australia and New Zealand.

The players who had impressive performances against Zimbabwe A in the recently concluded home series were included in the long list while a few new faces may also make their debut during the series.

The team management want to be very cautious about their strategy in the coming series. As such the much-talked about plans of building pace-friendly wickets in a bid to prepare the players for the World Cup may not take place.

That's why they are considering putting emphasis on their own strength which is their spin bowling. In that department new faces may be brought in as reinforcements after Shohag Gazi's ban from international cricket.

In yesterday's meeting there was a discussion about the team for the Test series and they conceded that they were not ready to take any risks in the series because the team desperately needs to regain confidence ahead of the World Cup.

Nasir Hossain's poor recent form is a big concern for the team management and everybody feels that the player needs a break from longer-version cricket so he may be dropped for three-match Test series.

Zimbabwe will arrive in Dhaka on October 17 and the first Test will begin in Dhaka on October 25. The teams will then travel to Khulna to play the second Test before the third and final Test in Chittagong on November 12, which will be followed by the ODI series.

PRELIMINARY SQUAD 

Tamim Iqbal, Shamsur Rahman, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mominul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Shuvagoto Hom, Mahmudullah Riyad, Naeem Islam, Taijul Islam, Jubair Hossain, Saqlain Sajib, Al Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Robiul Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Anamul Haque, Mohammad Mithun, Liton Kumar Das, Shabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Taskin Ahmed, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Abul Hossain, Mukter Ali, Mohammad Shahid, Elias Sunny, Abdur Razzak, Marshal Ayub and Soumya Sarker.