Al-Amin debate dominates Mosaddek's day

When the national selectors announced the 13-member squad yesterday for the first two ODIs of the three-match series against Afghanistan, the only notable name in the list was Mosaddek Hossain as an uncapped player.  The 20-year old all-rounder's inclusion in the side might not be that surprising as he was considered as the most promising contender to get a place, but he still might have been the centre of discussion during the press conference had the Al Amin Hossain-Shafiul Islam debate not dominated.

Chief selector Minhajul Abedin needed few words to explain why they picked Mosaddek in the side. "There are some cricketers whose talent you can spot very early. Mosaddek batted in domestic cricket, which includes the longer-version tournaments, in the last two years with a lot of confidence. He did well in the Dhaka Premier League and we feel he is ready."

And it's the latest attempt from the Minhajul-led selection panel to find a solution for the number three spot by bringing in Mosaddek. He played a solitary T20I earlier this year against Zimbabwe and converted his first two first-class hundreds to doubles, before making 622 runs in 14 matches at an average of 77.75 for champions Abahani Limited in the DPL.

The recurrent question from the media was why Al Amin Hossain needed to make way for Shafiul Islam, making his comeback, despite the former having a better records in the recent past?

There was also the question of whether the coach's (Chandika Hathurusingha's) personal dislike played a part behind the decision as records speak in favour of Al Amin, who had played only three ODIs since 2015 and took 25 wickets in the DPL at an average of 23 while Shafiul, who last played an ODI in November 2014, took 11 wickets from 10 matches at 37.27. The other thing was the vulnerable health of Shafiul who always seems to be at the brink of a breakdown.

"Al-Amin has not been altogether removed from the teams. We have the England series coming up too, and he is in our pool. There were a few native things that have come up about Al-Amin, plus there's some talk about his fitness. There was nothing about whether the coach likes or dislikes Al-Amin. There's a vast difference between Al-Amin and Shafiul's fielding ability too. Shafiul improved his fitness during the camp. He is an experienced bowler," Minhajul said.

It was learnt that poor fielding was the biggest reason behind the decision as according to the team management the team leaked runs due to Al Amin's poor fielding and suffered from dropped catches and they found nothing changed in this regard in the last few months.

Rubel Hossain and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam returned to the side after missing the ODI series against Zimbabwe last November. Taijul was considered ahead of another left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain as an attacking option.

Bangladesh announced the 13-member side as they were waiting for the clearance of Taskin Ahmed. "We haven't heard from the ICC regarding Taskin's test result. It was supposed to be given today. If he is given the go-ahead, he will be an addition to the squad," added Minhajul.

Meanwhile, following frantic activities by the BCB it was learnt that Taskin's test report would be available sometime today. And if the pace bowler is cleared by the ICC, he will fill the void of the 14th member.