Bangladesh To Stick With Provisional Squad For World Cup 2019

Bangladesh have decided against altering the 15-man provisional World Cup squad they had announced last month and would thus stick with the same set of players for the forthcoming tournament in England and Wales. Bangladesh’ chief selector Minhajul Abedin said that any doubt that the selectors had regarding the squad was clear after the players’ performance in the tri-series where they beat West Indies in the final.

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While most of the players in the squad were more or less had their spots safe, there were some doubts over the likes of Abu Jayed and Mosaddek Hossain. However, the duo performed admirably in Ireland to cement their World Cup spots. Mosaddek scored a quickfire fifty in the final while Jayed took 5 for 58 against Ireland in a league game.

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“There is much confidence on and within the 15-member squad currently in England,” Abedin told ESPNcricinfo. “Everyone in the squad has shown that they are capable of performing at the highest stage, which is why we selected them in the first place.”

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The likes of Liton Das and Rubel Hossain also did well to keep their spots safe. Liton hit a 67-ball 76 against Ireland in his only outing, while Rubel picked up 1 for 41 in the same game. With Bangladesh now sticking with the same squad, the reserve players – Taskin Ahmed, Farhad Reza, Nayeem Hasan and Yasir Ali – who had travelled to Ireland would now return home. The four players will continue training in Dhaka along with the two other standby players – Imrul Kayes and Taijul Islam – in preparation for the series against Afghanistan A in July. Afghanistan A will play two four-day and five one-day games.

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Bangladesh, meanwhile, will play two warm-up games against Pakistan and India on May 26 and 28 respectively. They will open their open their World Cup campaign on June 2 against South Africa.

Squad:

Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Saifuddin, Abu Jayed, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain