Bangladesh squad announced for first Test against England
Oct 17, 2016 at 11:11 AM
The Bangladesh selectors, on Sunday, announced the 14-member squad for the first Test against England to be played at Chittagong. The Mushfiqur Rahman led squad includes 4 uncapped players namely Sabbir Rahman, Nurul Hasan, Mehedi Hasan and Kamrul Islam.
Sabbir Rahman finds a spot in the squad after his good performances in recent international series whereas the U19 skipper Mehedi Hasan has forced his way to the squad riding on his all-round show in domestic cricket. He also led the Bangladesh squad to the semi-final of U19 World Cup played earlier this year in Bangladesh. There he scored a total of 242 runs at an average of 60.50 in 6 games he played. In addition to that, he also scalped a total of 12 wickets. He was a complete package for rookies as he had every role to play in the squad.
The pace duo of Shafiul Islam and Kamrul Islam will surely get a place in playing XI as both these players are the only pace options for the team. The spinners will take rest of the responsibility with Shakib-al-Hasan being the leader of the spin team.
“We have taken two pace bowlers taking into account that Chittagong offers a flat pitch, we retained Shuvagata to tackle England’s left-handed batsmen. We also took [Mehedi Hasan] Miraz as a specialist offspinner as we believe he has much to offer since his performance at the U19 level. We have taken [Kamrul Islam] Rabbi because he has done well in first-class tournaments. He has the ability to bowl fast with the old ball.” ” Minhajul Abedin, the chief selector of Bangladesh cricket team said. ”
In total, Bangladesh has made 6 changes to their squad from their last home Test series against South Africa which was an almost a complete washout.
Bangladesh’s squad for he first Test match – Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), Tamim Iqbal (vice-capt), Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan , Mahmudullah, Soumya Sarkar, Taijul Islam, Mehedi Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Nurul Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Shuvagata Hom.