Selectors ring in changes for Rawalpindi Test

"Rubel [Hossain] has got the experience. He is ahead as the fourth fast bowler in the team. Rubel also did well in the recently-concluded BPL. As he has the experience, we want to see him afresh. Soumya [Sarkar] was picked as he can bat both at the top order and also in the middle order. Soumya returned to the team because Shadman [Islam] is missing due to injury."

Minhajul Abedin

Chief Selector

Mustafizur Rahman found himself out of a Bangladesh squad due to indifferent performance for the first time in his career as the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday announced a 14-member Test squad for the first match of a two-Test tour of Pakistan.

Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar made a comeback to the Test team alongside star opener Tamim Iqbal, who last played a Test against New Zealand in March last year.

Pacer Rubel played his last Test in 2018, but the 30-year-old has not been in good shape in longer version cricket, having taken just 13 wickets in six National Cricket League (NCL) games.

Mominul Haque will once again lead the Tigers in Tests despite the thumping defeat in his first assignment -- the two-Test series in India last year – but the left-hander is in god touch, having struck a hundred in the Bangladesh Cricket League yesterday.

Apart from Mustafizur, two openers Shadman Islam and Imrul Kayes along with all-rounders Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Mosaddek Hossain, who were all part of the Tigers’ squad in India, missed out due to injuries. Bangladesh will also miss experienced wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim who had earlier withdrawn from the Pakistan tour.

Mustafizur’s place had come under question in recent times because of sub-par performances across all formats as 24-year-old had taken just one wicket in the only Test he played in 2019, and scalped just eight victims in five Tests since the start of 2018. 

There has also been a suspicion that Mustafizur, once the boy wonder of Bangladesh cricket, is not as interested in playing Tests as he is the shorter formats. However, Mustafizur was never dropped from the Test team in the past, including the previous one-off Test series against Afghanistan last year, when the selectors said the left arm seamer was rested after he was not included in the squad.

This time, however, chief selector Minhajul Abedin gave a clear message to the left-arm seamer, saying that Mustafizur was dropped for his poor performance.

“He [Mustafizur Rahman] is dropped. We have dropped him for his performance. His performance in the longer version was not up to the mark. We think there are better options than him in the team,” Minhajul told The Daily Star yesterday.

The first of the two-match Test series against Pakistan will start from February 7 in Rawalpindi. The Bangladesh squad is scheduled to travel to Pakistan on February 4. The Tigers will travel to Pakistan again in April for the third and final phase of the tour to play the second Test.

SQUAD

Mominul Haque (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Saif Hasan, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mahmudullah Riyad, Md Mithun, Liton Kumar Das, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed Chowdhury, Al-Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Soumya Sarker.