The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Saturday, June 17, 2023, announced the 15-member squad for the three ODIs against Afghanistan which saw the return of Afifi Hossain and Mohammad Naim in the side.
Afif, who was dropped for the home ODI series against Ireland, returned after some strong performances in the DPL, which concluded last month. He also captained Bangladesh A in two of three unofficial Tests against West Indies A lately before withdrawing due to exhaustion.
Naim returned to the ODI team after a two-year absence. He was the Dhaka Premier League’s best run-scorer, with 932 runs in 16 innings at an average of 71.69 and a strike rate of 91.64. Naim is expected to be considered as a backup opening option for Rony for the World Cup in India later this year.
“This is the last series before the Asia Cup and we want to see some players and that is the reason we have picked Naim and Afif Hossain. Both (Afif and Naim) of them played in domestic circuit to earn their spot back in the team,” BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin told Cricbuzz on Saturday.
Taskin Ahmed Also Named After Missing Ireland Test
Pace bowler Taskin Ahmed also returned to the squad following the injury that he sustained during the ODIs against Ireland. It had then ruled him out of the following Test match against Ireland. Taskin returned to international cricket through the just concluded Test series against Afghanistan.
Rony Talukdar, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, and Yasir Ali failed to retain their place in the ODIs squad.
“Mrittunjoy could not retain his place as Taskin returned while we are thinking of Rony Talukdar in the T20I format. As far as Yasir is concerned, we are not considering him in the ODIs for the time being,” he added.
Afghanistan will leave Dhaka after the one-off Test that ended on Saturday. They will return to Bangladesh on July 1 to play the three ODIs on July 5, 8, and 11 in Chattogram, and two T20Is on July 12 and 14, in Sylhet.
Bangladesh squad: Tamim Iqbal (capt), Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Towhid Hridoy, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, Afif Hossain, Mohammad Naim