Selectors sprung few surprises on Friday when they included uncapped paceman Mohammad Shahid and retained out-of-form Imrul Kayes in Bangladesh’s 14-man squad for two match Test series against Pakistan. Shahid joined Liton Kumar Das and Soumya Sarkar as three uncapped player in the Test squad, which is strikingly different from the one-day and Twenty20 squad that swept Pakistan so far in the series.
‘The newcomers are deserving of their spots through performances in domestic and international cricket,’ said chief selector Faruk Ahmed while announcing the Test squad.
‘Shahid is a strong lad capable of bowling long spells and he has been a consistent performer in first class games.
‘Liton has scored heavily in the last couple of seasons while Soumya has started strongly in ODIs.
‘He [Soumya] may not bat in the same position if he gets picked but he can give us a lot of depth in the batting order,’ he said.
Mashrafee bin Murtaza handed over the captaincy to Mushfiqur Rahim and Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Sabbir Rahman, Abul Hasan and Rony Talukdar ended their part in the series.
Their places have been taken over by the likes of Imrul, Shahadat Hossain and Shuvagata Hom, however, were all part of Bangladesh’s Test squad for the previous series.
Marshal Ayub, Anamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman and Al-Amin Hossain, who were in the Test squad for the Zimbabwe series, have been overlooked this time.
‘We prefer to give players a reasonable run of games and Imrul Kayes keeps his place by virtue of his performance in the last Test series,’ said Faruk.
‘Shahadat has bowled very well in the National Cricket League (NCL) and he has the experience.’
The first Test will begin in Khulna on April 28.
Test Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Liton Kumar Das, Mominul Haque, Sakib Al Hasan , Mahmudullah, Shuvagata Hom, Soumya Sarkar, Taijul Islam, Jubaer Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Shahadat Hossain and Mohammad Shahid.
-With New Age input