Shuvgata Hom and Taijul Islam brought in to add strength to the T20I squad

Bangladesh has included batsmen Shuvagata Hom and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam in the 15-man squad for the first T20 against New Zealand in Napier on January 3. Leg spinner Tanbir Hayder and off-spinner Mehedi Hasan, who were a part of the ODI squad, were dropped. While Tanbir played two matches, the young Mehedi did not get a single game.

Rubel Hossain also didn’t get a game but was picked for the T20 while Soumya Sarkar, who made just one run in the first ODI, was also included. Tanbir, meanwhile, playing ODIs for the first time, went wicketless with his leg-spin and made just five runs in the two matches.

But it is likely that the squad would be shuffled as the touring party in New Zealand still includes all the other players from the preliminary camp in Australia. Mushfiqur Rahim is also with them, recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered during the first ODI in Christchurch.

From Bangladesh’s last T20 squad, which played in the World T20 earlier this year, there was no place for Abu Hider, Al-Amin Hossain, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur, Saqlain Sajib and Arafat Sunny.

Squad for first T20I against New Zealand

Mashrafe Mortaza (C), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan (VC), Mosaddek Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shuvagata Hom, Subashis Roy, Taijul Islam, Nurul Hasan (WK).

Meanwhile, New Zealand has added Neil Broom in the squad as a replacement for injured martin Guptil. Guptill has been forced to miss the upcoming three-match T20 International series after suffering a hamstring injury during the third and final ODI at Saxons Oval, Nelson.

Guptill is expected to be out of action for 2-4 weeks. The opener hurt his left hamstring on the first ball of the third over when he went in for a quick single. But decided to continue only to lay down in pain two balls later as the physio rushed in to attend him. Later, he decided to walk back and had to retire hurt after that and didn’t come out again after the fall of Broom’s wicket.