Rasel returns

Former national captains Akram Khan (R) and Naimur Rahman Durjoy (L) flanks chief selector Rafiqul Alam as he announces the national team for the tour of Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.Photo: STAR

There were no changes apart from bringing in left-arm seamer Syed Rasel to the fold after he missed the Ireland series when the national selectors announced a 15-member squad for the tour of Pakistan yesterday.
Rasel was recalled as the Rafiqul Alam-led panel extended the team by a single player for five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 game.
Mohammad Ashraful's men will fly to Karachi on April 6 to play the matches in four different cities -- Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Karachi -- under floodlights.
This selection panel finally kept away from their 'cut and chop' policy as the series whitewash against Ireland made them believe that it would be unwise to bring any changes into the winning combination.
But the interesting fact is that only skipper Mohammad Ashraful and vice-captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza survived from the team that last visited Pakistan in 2003 under the leadership of Khaled Mahmud.
"We kept faith in the winning squad as the boys got back the much-needed confidence and team spirit after winning the last series against Ireland quite comfortably," said Rafiq, while disclosing the team at a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
"We didn't consider Rasel for the last series because we gave special attention on the spin attack. But this time we felt that we need to have more options in our pace attack for the Pakistan series, so we recalled Rasel. And the most important thing is that the board extended the size," he added.
The former national player however didn't forget to reiterate their future plan as he said whatever they are doing is with an eye on the next World Cup to be held in the subcontinent in 2011.
"We want to stick to our long-term policy which is to make a team for the next World Cup," he said.
Rafiqul also explained the reasons behind their decision to keep faith in middle-order batsman Rokibul Hasan and wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh and not to consider left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain after poor showing in only one series.
"We have a left-arm spinner in (Abdur) Razzak who is one of the best bowlers in the world and Shakib Al Hasan and we didn't feel the need for another left-arm spinner. On the other hand we believe that Rokibul and Dhiman are yet to deliver their best because they didn't get enough opportunities in the last series to bat," explained Rafiq.
He was very confident about the Tigers' good showing in the series.
"This team has the potential to do something if they maintain the team rules," he hoped.
Rafiq also informed that they need two more men in the selection panel to keep standard on selection of different teams.
"We already expressed our desire to the board and hopefully within a short time we will get two more selectors in the panel," he informed.
SQAUD
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, Forhad Reza and Syed Rasel.
STAND-BY: Nazmul Hossain, Mehrab Hossain and Mushfiqur Rahim.