'This A team is ideal'

When Marshall Ayub hit his second hundred in consecutive innings in Mirpur yesterday, selector Habibul Bashar was watching the batsman's achievement from the ground, quipping that had Marshall returned to form before they selected Bangladesh's A team for the tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe, it would have given the selectors some food for thought. However, he said that the side which was ultimately picked was, for the first time, an ideal A team.

The former captain outlined some issues which affected the A team before, saying they had resolved them.

"This team has players who have the calibre to make the jump into the national side. Earlier we had some players who were caught in limbo. They were stuck in the A team with no prospects of making the national side. We also chose some players in order to condition them for upcoming series, but it's not like that this time," said Bashar.

The former national captain, who is set to travel with the team during the tours, said that this was an A team they had been picturing for a long time.

"We are happy that we could pick a proper and ideal team this time. I say that because we chose the players we wanted. We also want to see how they respond at the next level after domestic cricket. We consider players like Mosaddek Hossain and Sadman Islam as our future prospects and they showed their ability in the under-19 level and domestic circuits. Now they have to prove that they are equally good in different conditions," explained Bashar.

"On the other hand, we have some plans with Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das and we also want to see how they face the challenge away from home. Mahmudul Hasan, Mohammad Mithun and Sabbir Hossain are all in contention for national selection. We formed a team which is standing between domestic level and the national team, so it's a perfect A team which we hope will serve the purpose of the national side. It was a long-cherished dream for us to form a genuine A team and we did it this time," he continued.

Bashar also explained the reason behind the selection of pacer Mohammad Shahid, who established his position in the Test team through his disciplined bowling effort.

"Look we did not pick players like Anamul Haque because we saw them in different conditions, but we still selected Shahid and Al-Amin Hossain because pace bowling is our weak link. Shahid did well in home conditions but we want to see how he bowls in different conditions. We picked up Al-Amin because we need backup pacers since Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam are injured," he said.

Bashar said that they were not in a position to look back at some of the older former national players because the younger players are pushing hard to reach the next level. "You can see how the younger players are taking the opportunity, so the out-of-favours must do something special to outshine them," he concluded.