Mashrafee, Tamim, Ashraful return for Zimbabwe series
The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Sunday put to rest all the speculations over the captaincy of the national side when it retained all-rounder Sakib al Hasan for the prestigious post for next month’s one-day international series against Zimbabwe.
The BCB named a 15-member squad for the five-match series that also included former captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza.
Sakib led Bangladesh to a 4-0 win against New Zealand in October after taking over the charge from Mashrafee, who had twisted his ankle in the first match and did not take any further part in the five-match series.
‘Sakib has delivered as captain whenever he was given the charge. He took over the responsibility when the team really needed him,’ said Gazi Ashraf Hossain, a key member of the BCB’s technical evaluation committee that chose the captain.
‘We also did not want to overburden Mashrafee because he has just returned from injury. He has regained his fitness but we just want to let him play,’ said Ashraf, also a former national skipper.
Ashraf said BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal spoke to both Mashrafee and Sakib at his office before making the formal announcement. The announcement of the captain and the squad were delayed as Kamal and other high-ups had been abroad.
The squad, announced late in the afternoon, also marked the return of opener Tamim Iqbal and former skipper Mohammad Ashraful, who just led Bangladesh to the Asian Games gold in Guangzhou.
Tamim missed the New Zealand series as he underwent a surgery on his injured wrist in September while Ashraful had been axed for poor form.
Batsmen Shahriar Nafees and Jahirul Islam made way for Tamim and Ashraful, while Junaed Siddique has been retained despite performing poorly against New Zealand.
‘Shahriar is extremely unlucky as someone had to make way for Tamim. He is, however, still around and can be included in the side anytime if needed,’ said chief selector Rafiqul Alam.
‘We retained Junaed because we found him the best one-down batsman after Habibul Bashar. His average is around 33 in both Tests and ODIs batting at number three. He also made over 200 runs in the NCL, which showed he is in good form.’
Alam, however, gave a different reason for the axing of Jahirul, who did not play in any New Zealand game.
‘He is not in form. We expected him to perform better in the NCL, but he could not,’ he said.
Pace bowler Nazmul Hossain also returned after missing the last four New Zealand matches for a hand injury. Nazmul bowled superbly in the first game but needed three stitches in his hand after he damaged it while trying to stop the ball in his follow-through in the final over.
Syed Rasel and Dollar Mahmud faced the axe after Mashrafee and Nazmul regained their fitness.
The series will begin on December 1 with the first one-dayer at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.
The second and third ODIs will also be held at the same venue on December 3 and 6. Chittagong will host the fourth and fifth matches on December 10 and 12.
Squad: Sakib Al Hasan (captain), Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaed Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Roqibul Hassan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Sohrawardi Shuvo, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain and Nazmul Hossain.
