Sabbir's premature inclusion

Even before the selectors announced the squad for the upcoming ODI series in New Zealand to be held between February 13 and 20, there were rumours over Sabbir Rahman's possible inclusion, despite the batsman being in the middle of a six-month international ban which would have ended on March 1.

However, Sabbir -- who was banned for threatening a fan on social media -- was recalled to the ODI squad alongside pacer Taskin Ahmed. The only uncapped player in the 15-member ODI squad announced yesterday was young off-spinner Nayeem Hasan.

According to chief selector Minhajul Abedin, they received a clearance from Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB's) disciplinary committee to the effect that Sabbir's ban was reduced by a month.  Minhajul said that Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza firmly wanted Sabbir in the side.

"Let me make this clear, Sabbir's inclusion was mainly because of the captain's demand as he [Mashrafe] firmly asked us to include him and we agreed to it. They want someone who could face fast bowlers in the lower-middle order keeping the upcoming World Cup and New Zealand series in mind. The captain is very confident about him and I also hope that he will be able to make a comeback," Minhajul told reporters in Mirpur yesterday.

Sabbir, who last played an ODI in July 2018 in the West Indies, has not impressed in domestic cricket during his time out of the national team. In the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League, after disappointing in the first five games, the right-hander struck a 51-ball 85 against Rangpur Riders which, according to Minhajul, caught the selectors' eyes.

Taskin, meanwhile, has been in good form, bagging 16 wickets in the BPL for Sylhet Sixers. His reward was inclusion in both the ODI and Test squads for the upcoming New Zealand tour. He played his last ODI and Test back in 2017 against South Africa and since then the 23-year-old was dropped due to injury as well as bad form.

"Taskin has been suffering from injury for a long time and he was part of our rehabilitation programme. After recovering he has played well in the BPL. We initially wanted him only for the longer version but as he is playing matches we decided to include him in the ODI side as well. We will observe his performance in the coming days."

Batsman Imrul Kayes, all-rounder Ariful Haque, left-arm seamer Abu Hider and left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam were excluded from the ODI squad that played against West Indies in December last year.

There was an expected return to the Test side for Tamim Iqbal, who last played a Test in West Indies in July 2018, but missed out since due to left knuckle fracture picked up during the Asia Cup in September last year. Soumya Sarkar and Ariful lost their Test places, but pacer Abu Jayed returned to the longer-version squad.