Rasel's surprise exclusion

Players of the Ireland team pose for photos on their arrival at the ZIA last night.Photo: Anisur Rahman

The national selectors surprisingly exclu-ded left-arm seamer Syed Rasel when they announced a 14-member squad yesterday by making two changes for this month's three-match one-day series against Ireland.
The ICC associate member country, who pulled off a surprise against the Tigers in the Super Eights of the World Cup in West Indies last year, arrived yesterday to play three one-day internationals on March 18, 20 and 22 against the demoralised home team who suffered a humiliating Test and ODI series reverse against South Africa. Defending their 'cut and chop' policy, chief selector Rafiqul Alam disclosed the team at a press conference by declaring that whatever they are doing is with an eye on the next World Cup to be held at the subcontinent in 2011.
Fit-again Aftab Ahmed, who missed the one-day series against Proteas due to an injury received from a bouncer of Jacques Kallis during the second Test at Chittagong, returned to the team in place of Rasel, who has always been considered as a specialist one-day bowler.
The axe also fell on left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain to make way for off-spinner Mahmudullah Riyad, who was out of favour for the last two series after making an impressive debut in Sri Lanka in July last year.
The Rafiqul Alam-led selection panel incorporated only three specialist bowlers in Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain and Abdur Razzak as they rated the slow medium pace of Aftab highly.
"No doubt Rasel is a very good bowler in the limited-version game because of his good line and length but he was little bit unlucky as Aftab regained his fitness. What we thought is that Aftab's medium pace would be handy for the team besides his batting," chief selector Rafiqul said explaining the reason behind Rasel's axe in the face of a volley of questions at a press conference.
"You know Mashrafe got back his rhythm in the one-day series against South Africa which is really encouraging for us. Rajib (Shahadat Hossain) retained his place as we believe that he can be a right replacement of Mashrafe if the leading bowler suffered any injury" he responded in reply to a question whether it would be wise to give Shahadat a rest instead of omitting Rasel.
The former national player also said that their plans centered on the spin bowling as it is believed that Ireland will struggle to play at the tricky surface in Mirpur.
"We set our whole game plan with the spinners and that was the reason we brought back Riyad in the team to bring variation into the attack. And you know Rubel (Mosharraf Hossain) didn't fulfill our expectation although he was outstanding in the domestic competitions," he added.
Ireland have seven left-handed batsmen, which also forced the Bangladesh think-tank to recall off-spinning all-rounder Riyad.
Despite his side's poor showing in the two-match Test and three-match one-day series, Rafiqul has hardly any doubt about the Tigers success against Ireland in the coming series.
"I am confident that we will win the series against Ireland. Our batsmen totally failed against South Africa which was the main reason behind the poor performance but everybody should understand that right at the moment South Africa has the most vicious bowling attack in their arsenal. And Aftab's injury was also a setback for us," he explained.
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Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (vice-captain), Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddiqui, Aftab Ahmed, Nazimuddin, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan, Rokibul Hasan, Dhiman Ghosh, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Mahmudullah Riyad and Forhad Reza.
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