Bangladesh Announce Squad For First Two Games Of T20I Tri-series

Bangladesh have dropped Mehidy Hasan from their 13-man squad for the first two games of the forthcoming T20I tri-series at home. The Tigers will lock horns against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe later this month in the series.

Mehidy Hasan has looked off-colour in recent times. The 21-year old did poorly in the ODI series against Sri Lanka last month. He managed to pick up just 2 wickets in three games as Bangladesh lost all the games.. Bangladesh even lost the home T20I series against West Indies in December last year. In that series too, Hasan had fared poorly, picking up just one wicket in three outings.

“We have formed this squad looking forward and there is no reason to believe that those who couldn’t make it into the squad won’t have a chance in the upcoming matches,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin told Cricbuzz. “We have only named a squad for the opening two games.

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Bangladesh have made it clear with their selection that they are eyeing the next year’s T20 World Cup. They have handed maiden call-up to pacer Yeasin Arafat while also recalling Mahedi Hasan and Afif Hossain. Mohammad Saifuddin has also returned to the squad after recovering from injury.

“We have included a few youngsters as we have a lot of Twenty20 matches in the coming days, Abedin said. “Mahedi and Afif are considered our future prospects and we just want to see how they can cope with the pressures of international cricket.

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“Mishu [Yeasin] is doing well in the domestic circuit for quite some days and we want to see how he fares at the international level.

“Saifuddin is fit to play. The physio said that he will be able to take the load of shorter version cricket and his back pain is not constant. He is already bowling and we need to be playing him while managing his workload,” he added.

Afif has played just one T20I so far which came against Sri Lanka in February last year. Mahedi Hasan is also new to international cricket, having played just one T20I so far. Senior opener Tamim Iqbal continues to miss the action due to leave while the likes of Ariful Haq, Abu Hider, Najmul Islam, Rubel Hossain and Abu Jayed failed to make it.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, will be looking to hit the ground running in the T20I after some poor results in recent times. They fared badly in the World Cup and recently lost to Afghanistan in the one-off Test at home.

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Bangladesh squad for first two T20Is:

Shakib Al Hasan (c), Liton Kumar Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Taijul Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Yeasin Arafat