Mosaddek recalled
Mosaddek Hossain made a comeback to the 15-member national squad that the selectors announced for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan yesterday. Imrul Kayes, Nurul Hasan and Taskin Ahmed were the ones who missed out, having been in the previous Bangladesh squad for the T20I Nidahas Trophy in March this year.
Mosaddek played his last T20I more than a year ago against Sri Lanka and is back in national reckoning for the first time since being dropped after playing the first Test against Sri Lanka earlier this year.
"We have given the opportunity to Mosaddek as an all-rounder as there is still some concern over the fitness of Mehedi Hasan Miraz. As Miraz is gradually improving we have decided to include Mosaddek as cover for him. We think that Mosaddek has enough skill as a bowler in T20s and we are aware of his talent. He did have a lean patch but after assessing his fitness and consulting with the team management we have decided to include him," chief selector Minhajul Abedin told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
According to Minhajul the selectors have plans for discarded wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul and opener Imrul, none of whom featured in any of the Nidahas Trophy matches. He also informed that the exclusion of Taskin was mainly because of his injury and lack of performance.
"We have three T20s against Afghanistan and we have different plans for him [Nurul] as we have the West Indies tour and it will be difficult for him to prepare himself for Tests as it's a long tour. So we have decided to give a break to some players like Imrul as well as it's difficult to gauge a player's performance in T20s. So, keeping the busy schedule in mind, we have dropped Nurul from the squad while we also have two wicketkeepers in Liton [Das] and Mushfiqur [Rahim] in the squad," he said.
Soumya Sarkar, meanwhile, was retained despite a poor run in the Nidahas Trophy where the left hander scored 14, 24, 1, 10 and 1. According to Minhajul, he was retained after consultation with the captain and coach.
The chief selector revealed that they were not happy with the performance of pace-bowling all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin, who was thought to be a replacement for Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who had retired from the format in April 2017. It is believed that the hard-hitting Ariful Haque, who was retained in the squad, could fill the sought-after role of a pace-bowling all-rounder.
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