Selectors on Thursday have recalled all-rounder Farhad Reza in the 15-member Bangladesh squad for the ICC World Twenty20 to be held in Sri Lanka in September- October.
Farhad, 26, replaced paceman Nazmul Hossain, who was part of the Bangladesh squad that toured Ireland and the Netherlands in July.
‘We included Reza for Nazmul as we needed to strengthen our batting,’ said chief selector Akram Khan. ‘Hopefully his inclusion will give our batting a depth something which we were lacking in our recent tours.’
Farhad last represented the Tigers in their tour of Zimbabwe in June where he was given only one match in the unofficial tri-series Twenty20 tournament. He bowled two overs in that low-scoring match, giving away eight runs, before nearly making a mess with the bat.
When victory was all but assured in that match against South Africa, Farhad scored just one run off five balls and threw his wicket at a time that nearly cost Bangladesh the win.
Bangladesh did win the match eventually, but they had to pay the price for their slow batting in the game as they were unable to make it to the final because of a poor run rate.
Akram, however, defended the performance of Farhad and said it can happen to anybody.
‘He played just one game and came to bat for the last few overs. Any player can be nervous at that stage,’ said Akram. ‘But we have full confidence in his batting. Moreover, he is also a better fielder.’
Akram added that they had to drop Nazmul as he did not have a good time in Europe where the Tigers defeated Ireland 3-0 but ended up losing a game each to Scotland and the Netherlands.
Nazmul featured in two of Tigers’ five T20 Internationals in Europe and Bangladesh won both the matches.
The Tigers will play in Group B alongside Pakistan and New Zealand in the ICC World T20.
Squad
Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Mahmudullah (vice-captain), Tamim Iqbal, Junaed Siddique, Jahirul Islam, Mohammad Ashraful, Sakib al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Elias Sunny, Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Farhad Reza, Shafiul Islam, Ziaur Rahman, Abul Hasan.
-With New Age input
