Saturday, October 13, 2018

Bangladesh announces 15-man ODI squad against Zimbabwe

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday 11 October 2018 announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe. Of them, national team selectors picked up only two uncapped players namely Fazle Mahmud Rabbi and Ariful Haque.
Fazle Mahmud Rabbi, the 30-year-old batting all-rounder, earned his place in the Bangladesh squad after scoring 708 runs at an average of 47.2 in the last season of the Dhaka Premier League. He got this golden opportunity to wear national team’s jersey after showing consistency in domestic circuit for almost 15 years and in the Ireland tour with Bangladesh A team recently. He also can bowl left-arm spin, which has been proved effective in domestic cricket. The reason behind taking him was to replace Shakib Al Hasan. Ariful Haque is another batting all-rounder. He has so far played only 6 T20Is. His performance in domestic cricket is quite satisfactory. So, Minhajul Abedin, Bangladesh's chief selector, is expecting that Ariful will play a vital role both with bat and ball.

Cricket fans might know that all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and opener Tamim Iqbal were ruled out of the squad for their respective injuries. The 31-year-old Shakib, who worsened his left little finger injury during the 2018 Asia Cup, is undergoing rehabilitation. He might take four to six months to get recovery from his finger infection and before that, he cannot go under surgery. Tamim Iqbal fractured his left hand in the opening match of the same tournament.

It is a matter of great joy that Mushfiqur Rahim has recovered from hip injury in time, thus he has been named in the squad. Experienced players like Mahmudullah Riyad, Liton Das, Rubel Hossain, Imrul Kayes have retained their places.

The exclusion of Mominul Haque, Mosaddek Hossain and Soumya Sarkar, who were part of the Bangladesh squad in the recently concluded Asia Cup campaign, might upset the cricket lovers.

Mohammad Saifuddin impressed the coach in the net practice and made his way to the Bangladesh’s ODI squad. His inclusion is likely to fill up the shortage of pace bowling all-rounder.

However, this team will be led by Mashrafe Bin Mortaza as usual. He will try to lead his team to a series victory, leaving behind the frustration of losing out to India in the Asia Cup final.

This two-sided ODI series is scheduled to kick off from October 21.

Bangladesh ODI Squad against Zimbabwe: Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Liton Das, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Ariful Haque, Mehidy Hasan, Nazmul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider Rony, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mohammad Saifuddin, Fazle Mahmud.


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