Mustafizur, Litton the new faces for ODIs

Young pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who had put in an impressive performance against Pakistan in the lone T20I earlier this year, and wicketkeeper-batsman Litton Das earned their maiden call-ups for Bangladesh's ODI squad yesterday.

They will replace the injured Mahmudullah Riyad and pacer Abul Hasan for the three-match ODI series against India scheduled to begin on June 18 in Mirpur.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Bangladesh Cricket Board's chief selector Faruque Ahmed said, "Mustafizur showed great promise in the T20I against Pakistan. He has good variation and more importantly, he is a left-armer. So if he gets a chance it will add variety to our attack.

"Litton is a good batsman and he will also be the backup keeper of the side. Hopefully Mushfiqur Rahim will keep, but we have to take precautions because of his finger injury," added Faruque. These were the only two changes from the squad that played against Pakistan in April.

There were a few worries about captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who earlier hurt his hand after he had jumped off a rickshaw in Mirpur in order to avoid a collision with a bus. Faruque however stated Mashrafe's recovery process has been going well and that the captain is expected to play the first ODI.

The ODI squad is on a roll after beating Pakistan 3-0. If Bangladesh win one of the three matches against India, they will overtake the West Indies and move to the seventh spot in the ICC rankings.

SQUAD
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarker, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Mustafizur Rahman, Litton Das.