Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The tournament is slated to take place from October 17 to November 15 in Oman and the UAE.
Along with the 15-member squad, two additional players will tour with the team — Rubel Hossain and leg-spinner Aminul Islam Biplob.
“We have been doing well in T20Is for a while now. We hope we can do well in the World Cup,” Minhajul Abedin, the chief selector of BCB, told the media on Thursday.
Bangladesh are, however, set to miss the services of veteran opener Tamim Iqbal as he had earlier withdrawn from the mega tournament citing lack of preparations.
Minhajul said the team would miss him, but it was his decision. “He is one of our best cricketers in every format,” Minhajul said about Tamim. “But it’s unfortunate that he decided to not play the World Cup. We hope that he will return to the team when he is fit and prepare to play for the Tigers.”
In Tamim’s absence, three players are in the fray for Bangladesh’s opening slots — Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Naim. According to Minhajul, the T20 World Cup came as a big chance for them to prove their mettle.
Bangladesh included Shamim Hossain in the World Cup squad. Shamim was part of Bangladesh’s U-19 team that won the World Cup in 2020.
“He has been part of the national team since the Zimbabwe series. He played well for the Bangladesh U-19 team. We believe the style he follows will help him do well in the T20 format,” Minhajul told the media.
While most of the other teams included at least one leg-spinner in their main squad, Bangladesh added Aminul as a standby player. The chief selector said the spinner was out of the squad for a long time due to illness, and they are not including Aminul in their initial plan. “However, Aminul will be with the team for keeping an eye on the young spinner’s future.”
Bangladesh didn’t include the experienced pacer Rubel in the main squad. He will also be a standby player.
Naim, Liton, Afif, Sohan, Mahedi, Saifuddin, Nasum, Shoriful, and Shamim are going to play their first T20 World Cup.
Bangladesh will start their World Cup campaign with the first-round match against Scotland on October 17, and they will then face off the hosts Oman and Papua New Guinea on October 19 and 21, respectively.
The squad: Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Naim, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shamim Hossain
Two on standby: Rubel Hossain, Aminul Islam Biplob
Source: United News of Bangladesh