Mosaddek returns, Aminul and Shafiul exit
Bangladesh Squad for NZ Tour
Tamim Iqbal, Mosaddek Hossain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Liton Kumar Das, Mahmud Ullah Riyad, Afif Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Taskin Ahmed, Al Amin Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Saif Uddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rubel Hossain, Sheikh Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed |
All-rounder Mosaddek Hossain, pacer Al Amin Hossain and left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed were included in the 20-member Bangladesh squad for the tour of New Zealand.
The national selectors announced the squad for the three-match ODI and T20I series yesterday.
Bangladesh will be without star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan in New Zealand as he will be with his family for the birth of his third child and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had already granted him leave from the tour.
The BCB also granted Shakib permission to take part in the Indian Premier League after the dashing southpaw was roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming season during the auction on Thursday.
The 33-year-old will also be missing the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka as the tour is expected to take place in April, when the IPL is also supposed to start.
Apart from Shakib, another left-arm spinner Taijul Islam was not included in the Tigers squad that played against the West Indies in the last ODI series.
Leg-spinner Aminul Islam and Shafiul Islam, who were part of the last T20I squad which played against Zimbabwe in 2020, were dropped. Al-Amin and Nasum, who were part of that squad, were retained for the upcoming series.
However, it will be a comeback for Mosaddek who played his last ODI in Sri Lanka back in 2019 and his last T20I in India in 2020, after which took leave to tend to his ailing mother. Since then, the all-rounder was not considered for any format of the game for the Tigers.
There are also seven pacers in the squad. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin said they wanted to include back-up options in case of injuries as they have to abide by quarantine protocols after reaching New Zealand.
"Obviously possible [to win in New Zealand]. We have got an experienced side and we have won the three-match ODI series against the West Indies when playing after a year's gap. We are considering Taijul Islam in Test matches while we want to see Nasum Ahmed in the T20 format. Mosaddek has been included as the back-up all-rounder as we wanted to create a pool across formats," Minhajul told the media yesterday.
The Tigers are scheduled to travel to New Zealand on February 23. The visitors will remain isolated in their hotel for four days after arrival. Bangladesh will start training from the fifth day for the next 10 days but only among themselves to complete the 14-day quarantine period. Tigers' spin bowling consultant Daniel Vettori is expected to join the side in New Zealand.
After the quarantine period, the visitors are expected to undergo a training camp in Queenstown for five days before taking part in the first of three ODIs on March 20 in Dunedin.
The second and third ODIs will take place on March 23 and 26 while the first of the three T20Is is scheduled for March 28 in Hamilton. The remaining two T20Is will be played on March 30 and April 1 in Napier and Auckland respectively.