Feb 01,2020
A New Age file photo of Mustafizur Rahman
Bangladesh on Saturday dropped pacer Mustafizur Rahman and recalled Soumya Sarkar and pacer Rubel Hossain for the first Test of two-match series against Pakistan, scheduled in Rawalpindi from February 7-11.
Mustafiz was part of Bangladesh’s previous two-Test series squad against India in November but was not picked for any of the matches due to his poor form and fitness.
‘Mustafiz was dropped for his poor performance. He is in-and- out of the team for quite some time and doesn’t play longer-format matches regularly. His white-ball performances are also not satisfactory,’ chief selector Minhajul Abedin told New Age.
Opening batsmen Imrul Kayes, Shadman Islam and off-spinner Mehedi Hasan, who were part of Bangladesh Test squad against India, were dropped for Pakistan Test for their injuries.
Imrul was struggling with a hamstring injury since Bangladesh Premier League while Shadman and Mehedi had some niggles in their wrist and finger respectively.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim opted to skip Pakistan tour due to security concerns.
Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, who opted to skip Bangladesh’s last three Tests – one against Afghanistan and two against India due to personal reasons, returned to the Test side.
Selectors picked top-order batsman Nazmul Hossain, who played his last Test against Zimbabwe in November, 2018 after displaying a decent performance in the domestic circuit.
Chief selector Minhajul added that they recalled Soumya and Rubel, who last played against Afghanistan in September and against West Indies in 2018 respectively, as back-up options.
‘Soumya has been picked as a backup player. Our first-choice openers are Saif Hasan and Tamim. We have picked Soumya in the squad if coach makes plan to play him at seven as an all-rounder as they (Pakistan) have good number of quality fast bowlers,’ said Minhajul.
Minhajul said that they had initially planned to pick pacer Taskin Ahmed as their back up pacer and but opted for Rubel later due to Taskin’s lack of match-fitness.
‘We have three fast bowlers [Abu Jayed, Ebadat Hossain and Al-Amin Hossain]. At first we thought about Taskin,’ said Minhajul.
‘But he returned home only a few days back after performing Umrah and was not part of any training for last two weeks.
‘Yesterday he could bowl only 9.2 overs before pulling off and didn’t continue in bowling. He could bowl only five overs today. He is not fit for Test cricket as he can’t bowl minimum 30-40 overs in a Test match. Because of that we picked Rubel as a back-up bowler,’ he added.
Minhajul also confirmed that they would go with the same team in the upcoming one-off-Test against Zimbabwe at home as well as the remaining Test against Pakistan in April.
‘This is the squad for all our upcoming three Tests. Mushfiq isn’t fit for now. In Zimbabwe series, we can take any player at any time. If he comes round, he will be available for Zimbabwe series,’ said Minhajul.
The Tigers will leave for Pakistan on Tuesday to play the Test and will visit the country again in April for the one-off one-day international and second Test, scheduled in Karachi from April 5-9.
Bangladesh visited Pakistan earlier in January amid tight security for three-match Twenty20 international series in Lahore, which they lost 2-0.
Squad
Mominul Haque (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Saif Hasan, Najmul Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed, Al-Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain and Soumya Sarkar.
