Bangladesh on Saturday left Tamim Iqbal out of their Asia Cup squad after the opener failed to recover sufficiently from his neck injury. Tamim, who played a phenomenal role in the last Asia Cup with four fifties to help Bangladesh finish runners-up, also missed the preceding three one-day internationals against Sri Lanka due to the same injury. In-form opening batsman Imrul Kayes replaced Tamim in the Asia Cup squad that had no room for out-of-sorts all-rounder Mahmudullah.
Mahmudullah, who could make just six runs in three Sri Lanka ODIs, was replaced by seaming all-rounder Ziaur Rahman, a selection which raises a question or two.
Selectors preferred Zia over Farhad Reza, who is in the form of his life.
‘The number seven position is proving very important and therefore, Ziaur Rahman gets in,’ said chief selector Faruk Ahmed in a statement. ‘He is in form and has been performing consistently at domestic level.
‘We will not be getting Tamim 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 rehab,’ said Faruk.
The squad also marked a return for left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, who had been rested from the Sri Lanka ODIs to heal his hamstring injury. Razzak replaced paceman Shafiul Islam in the squad.
Selectors also retained suspended all-rounder Sakib al Hasan, who will join the squad after serving out his three-match ban.
‘There are two left-arm spinners in the squad other than Sakib al Hasan. This was necessary as we will not have Sakib’s services in the first two games,’ Faruk said, explaining his decision of giving rookie Arafat Sunny another go.
Faruk is confident Bangladesh will put their miserable performance against Sri Lanka behind them and get some positive results.
‘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 said in the statement.
-With New Age input
