Bangladesh cricketers Rubel Hossain and Sakib al Hasan listen to batting coach Neil McKenzie during a training session at Grace Road Club ground in Leicester, UK on Monday. — BCB photo
The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Monday ruled out any chance of making adjustments to their World Cup squad as they expressed their satisfaction with the team’s overall performance in the recently-concluded tri-series in Ireland.
‘We are not making any change in World Cup squad,’ BCB’s cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan told New Age.
There were some talks regarding some adjustments in Bangladesh World Cup squad after the tri-series in Ireland but the first multi-nation tournament victory of the Tigers after 1997 put the matter aside.
The national selectors announced the 15-member squad for the forthcoming ICC World Cup on April 16 without causing any serious controversy while choosing their players for the event.
However, they hinted that they might add or drop one or two players from the World Cup squad depending on the form and fitness of the players in Ireland as the International Cricket Council kept a provision of changing the team until May 23 without permission.
The hint seemed close to coming true when they picked Taskin Ahmed and Farhad Reza as two more additional players for the tri-series and there were also some rumours of Taskin getting picked in the World Cup team in place of uncapped Abu Jayed.
However, Jayed’s brilliant bowling performance of 5-58 against Ireland during their last league match all but confirmed his maiden World Cup berth and also made the BCB content with the current team.
Akram further informed that they would think of changing any player only if someone gets injured, otherwise they would go with the same squad for the whole tournament.
The BCB already made a list of reserve cricketers where they picked Imrul Kayes for opening position, Taskin as a pace-bowling option, Farhad for the pace-bowling all-rounder slot, Yasir Ali for one-down and Nayeem Hasan and Taijul Islam as spin-bowling options.
‘If someone gets injured, only then we will bring any change in the team. The rule is we can make any kind of change by May 23 without permission and after the date, we can’t make changes except for injury reasons,’ he added.
The most of the members of Bangladesh World Cup squad were currently in Leicester, England for their one week training camp and for the second consecutive day they continued their practice at Grace Road.
Skipper Mashrafee bin Murtaza and Tamim Iqbal, however, took a break with Mashrafee returning back home on Saturday to spend a few days with his family.
Tamim, on the other hand, left Dublin and went to United Arab Emirates where he joined his family for holidaying.
Bangladesh will play two practice matches ahead of the World Cup as they will take on Pakistan and India on May 26 and 28 respectively at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.
The Tigers will begin their World Cup campaign against South Africa on June 2 at the Oval, three days after the tournament gets underway on May 30 in the same venue.
Source: New Age.
