Bangladesh announce Test, ODI and T20I squads for Zimbabwe tour

Bangladesh have included all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan for the upcoming Tests against Zimbabwe. He had skipped the Tests against Sri Lanka earlier in the year to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and was also in the news recently for venting his anger on the umpire in the Dhaka Premier League. Bangladesh are scheduled to play one-off Test, three ODIs and as many T20Is from July 7.

The injured cricketers Taskin Ahmed, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim are expected to be fit in time for the tour and hence, have been included. Rahim, however, will skip the T20I series as he requested earlier to the board. Among the comeback men, wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan has returned to the team across all formats while off-spinner Nayeem Hasan has made a comeback to the Test side.

Soumya Sarkar dropped from the ODIs

Meanwhile, all-rounder Soumya Sarkar has been dropped the ODI squad along with Mahedi Hasan while Rubel Hossain and Taijul Islam have replaced them. Among all, the team picked for the T20Is has many changes with uncapped Shamim Patowary getting his maiden call-up. Aminul Islam and Shakib have also returned to the mix as expected.

Apart from Rahim, six other players – osaddek Hossain, Najmul Hossain, Mohammad Mithun, Al-Amin Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Rubel Hossain, Mehidy Hasan – were not considered for selection in the shortest format.

As far as the tour is concerned, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were earlier scheduled to play two Tests along with two T20Is while the number of ODIs were same. However, to make sure their preparation for the T20 World Cup is spot on, the two boards decided to reduce a Test and added an additional T20 game for the tour.

The visitors will play a two-day practice game on July 3 and 4 with the ODI series starting on July 16 while the T20Is will take place on July 23, 25 and 27. All the matches will be played in Harare.