Batsmen Mahmudullah and Anamul Haque have been recalled as Bangladesh on Tuesday named 14-man squad for the first two one-day internationals of three-match series against South Africa. Mahmudullah had missed Bangladesh’s previous series against India at home after he sustained a fracture on his left index finger. Anamul had injured himself during the World Cup in March and was not picked for two subsequent home series against India and Pakistan.
Mominul Haque and Rony Talukdar, who were part of the squad in both Pakistan and India series but did not play any game, made the way for Mahmudullah and Anamul.
‘Mahmudllah is fit for selection so we decided to include him,’ said chief selector Faruk Ahmed. ‘We also want to see Anamul as he looks to have regained his form.’
Selectors had earlier told in some informal gathering that they did not consider Anamul for Pakistan and India series because of his tendency to put his individual interest before the team.
Coach Chandika Hathurusinghe is said to have raised the issue having seen the batsman in the World Cup when he was seen consuming too many balls at the start of the innings to get set.
Anamul was told to change his approach and Faruk said he made a promise to captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza before getting himself selected again.
‘He [Anamul Haque] told to skipper about his batting approach and we decided to give him a chance. Unless you give someone a chance how can you know how much he had changed,’ he asked.
Paceman Taskin Ahmed will also miss the first two ODIs due to a rib injury that he picked up during a training session last week.
The three-match ODI series begins on July 10 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. The second and third ODI will be held on July 12 and 15 respectively in Dhaka and Chittagong.
Squad
Mashrafee bin Murtaza (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Sakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Liton Das, Arafat Sunny, Jubair Hossain, Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman.
-With New Age input
