Bangladesh fast-bowler Mustafizur Rahman, who has been rising among the ranks at pace, has been excluded from the 15-member squad by Bangladesh Cricket Board selection committee for the first Test against New Zealand. which is scheduled to take place at Wellington from January 12, following his long layoff due to shoulder injury.
The BCB selectors have suggested that Mustafizur should be handled with care as he has exciting career ahead. There is no need to overburden him at the moment.
“He [Mustafizur] has just returned from injury. We don’t want to burden him with Test cricket just yet, said Habibul Bashar, one of the selectors at BCB.
However, wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has returned to the Test squad after being ruled out for Twenty20 series due to a hamstring injury.
“We have a good bunch of fast bowlers in the team. Taskin (Ahmed) was cleared by the physio to play Test for the first time while Rubel (Hossain) has also returned,” Bashar added.
After recovering from the shoulder injury, Mustafizur, who is known as ‘The Fizz’, made his comeback to competitive cricket after five months in the ODI series in New Zealand.
Fast-bowler Taskin Ahmed, who has featured in several limited-overs cricket matches, has also been inducted in the squad.
So far, Bangladesh have already lost three-match ODI series 3-0 and T20 series by 2-0 with one to go at Bay Oval on January 8.
The two-match Test series will begin from January 12-16 at Wellington and the second and final Test will be played at Christchurch from January 20.
Bangladesh’s 15-member Test Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (Skipper/WK), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudulah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Kamrul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy and Nurul Hasan.