Bangladesh announce 18-man squad for England series

Bangladesh chief selector Habibul Bashar has announced the 18-man squad that will host England and Afghanistan in their respective upcoming tours later this month. While history beckons for the country with the England tour, the Bangladesh selection committee has also taken the executive decision to name three uncapped players in the team.

Bangladesh U19 skipper from the World Cup earlier this year Mehedi Hasan Miraz, pacer Subashis Roy, and allrounder Alauddin Babu have got their first calls to the national team. However, Jubair Hossain, Litton Das, Arafat Sunny, and Kamrul Islam Rabbi are all dropped from the ODI squad.

Habibul Bashar, former Bangladesh skipper, and a member of the selection panel added that the team would be picked from the current list of players put out by the committee. “The team for Afghanistan series will definitely be made from this list. And it’s very unlikely that someone outside this list will be selected for England series, unless something important comes up,” Habibul Bashar, a member of the selection panel, said on Tuesday.

“For the national team, we had our eyes on a number of players from both the preliminary camp and HP. We stayed open for picking a player from anywhere, if necessary. But do keep in mind, it’s an initial squad. There is still the matter of getting in the final team,” Bashar added.

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The massive name in the squad at the moment is that of Taskin Ahmed. The young Bangladeshi pacer had been ruled out midway through the World T20 when his bowling action was deemed illegal. Arafat Sunny, the left-arm spinner was also implicated in the same issue. However, while Taskin is back, Arafat Sunny is out of the squad.

The squad:

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Anamul Haque, Mosaddek Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Shubashish Roy, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Mosharraf Hossain Rubel, Alauddin Babu, Al-Amin Hossain.