Shafiul Islam, who last played a One-Day International in October last year, has been recalled to the Bangladesh 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced on Thursday (April 20). The selectors have decided to drop Nurul Hasan, Subashis Roy, Shuvagata Hom, who were part of the Sri Lanka tour earlier this month.
Shafiul had suffered a hamstring injury during the Bangladesh Premier League and was sidelined as a result. The selectors, however, have decided to keep Nurul and Roy as backup in case of injury. The duo will train with the squad in Sussex and will also take part in the tri-series in Ireland.
Mashrafe Mortaza will lead the side while Mushfiqur Rahim, as expected, will be his deputy. Nasir Hossain, after showing some good form with the bat, too finds a place in the squad for the tri-series. Bangladesh will train from April 26 to May 6 before travelling to Ireland for the tri-series involving New Zealand as well. Shakib al Hasan, though, will join the training squad only on May 4 and will continue to be available for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League until then.
Mehedi Hasan, the young offspinner who made his ODI debut in Sri Lanka, too has been retained in the squad for the Champions Trophy that also includes young guns like Mosaddek Hossain and Sunzamul Islam. Sunzamul, the left-arm spinner, is yet to make his international debut and has played 57 first-class games and 62 List A games. He has 79 List A wickets in his bag at an average of 26.65 and has accumulated 212 first-class wickets at an average of 28.54.
Bangladesh start their campaign against England on June 1 before taking on Australia and New Zealand on June 5 and 9 respectively.
Champions Trophy Squad
Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Sunzamul Islam, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam.
Squad for Ireland tri-series
Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Sunzamul Islam, Nurul Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Shafiul Islam.
. The selectors have decided to drop Nurul Hasan, Subashis Roy, Shuvagata Hom, who were part of the Sri Lanka tour earlier this month.){kind=link}