Bangladesh Cricket Board on Saturday announced a 15-member Bangladesh squad for the three- match ODI series against Sri Lanka starting on February 17 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.
Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, who missed the just concluded two- match T20 series against Sri Lanka due to injury, has returned to the squad. The other major changes in the squad are inclusion of Arafat Sunny as replacement for another left-arm spinner, the injured Abdur Razzak.
Razzak, the leading wicket-taker for Bangladesh in ODIs, injured his left hamstring during the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Chittagong two weeks ago, and still needs time to recover.
Sunny made his T20 debut for Bangladesh in the first match against Sri Lanka in Chittagong, and picked up two wickets. He was the most successful spinner in last season’s Dhaka Premier Division, the country’s List-A competition, with 29 wickets at an average of 19.13. The onus of filling the void in the spin attack in the series will also rest on Shakib Al Hasan and Sohag Gazi.
Anamul Haque, Naeem Islam and Shafiul Islam have also retained their places in the team despite not being a part of Test plans. Anamul batted well in the first T20 while Naeem has been in good touch in domestic cricket, and had made two fifties in the ODIs against New Zealand last year.
Shafiul Islam has recovered from a ligament tear in his ankle, which he picked up ahead of the first ODI against New Zealand in October. He has replaced Ziaur Rahman, who has fallen out of favour with the selectors across all three formats.
Interestingly, the BCB has named Tamim Iqbal vice-captain for the ODIs, after he had quit the role ahead of the T20s last week.
The second and third ODIs will take place at the Sher-e- Bangla National Cricket Stadium on February 20 and 22. All the three ODIs will be held under floodlight.
Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal (vice captain), Anamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Muminul Hoque, Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Mahmud Ullah, Shohag Gazi, Arafat Sunny, Masrafe Bin Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, Al-Amin Hossain, Naeem Islam and Shafiul Islam.
