Tamim Iqbal has been eliminated from Bangladesh team for the upcoming Asia Cup tournament due to his neck strain after the second test against Sri Lanka, which made him to miss three successive ODI matches that ended on Saturday. Bangladesh team needs him to be fit for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in March. So Tamim has not been risked for this tournament.
Whereas Ziaur Rahman and Imrul Kayes have been repealed by the selectors to the squad and Mahmudullah has been eliminited because of his poor performance in the recent matches.
Ziaur, who has been encounterd a run of 167 against New Zealand recently, has also been selected to fill the position of number 7 in the team to strengthen the batting depth of the side.
On the other hand Imrul who was recalled recently after more than two years and had struck a century on his comeback. He has been performing well in domestic cricket recently.
Ziaur’s selection has made the in form all-rounder Farhad Reza surprised but according to the chief selector Faruque Ahmed it was necessary to call Ziaur back, for his recent domestic form and the added option of his medium-pace bowling.
“The No 7 position is proving very important and therefore Ziaur Rahman gets in,” Faruque said. “He is in form and has been performing consistently at domestic level. We will not be getting Tamim Iqbal in the Asia Cup. He has not recovered from an injury and it may take another week or so for him to return. Under the circumstances our priority is to have him fully fit for the ICC World Twenty20 and he will continue his rehabilitation.”
According to Faruque Ahmed though the team Bangaladesh ended up the ODI series against Sri Lanks with the result 3-0 but they will bounce back in this Asia Cup for sure.
“There are two left-arm spinners in the squad other than Shakib Al Hasan,” Faruque said. “This was necessary as we will not have Shakib’s services in the first two games. I believe we are not playing that badly. We just need to get a couple of results and I am confident the boys will be able to comeback from the disappointment of the series against Sri Lanka.” he added.
