There was no space for pacer Mustafizur Rahman as Bangladesh named their 15-man squad for the upcoming one-off Test against Afghanistan at Chattogram.
He 23-year-old’s exclusion was the biggest talking point from the squad for the four-day Test which gets underway on September 5.
Along with Mustafizur, the other names to miss out are opening batsman Tamim Iqbal and Khaled Ahmed who is currently recuperating from a recently undertaken knee surgery.
Veteran opener Tamim had earlier been granted a break from cricket by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) after a run of poor form with the bat. The left-hander is expected to return to action for the tour of India which gets underway later this year in November.
Star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will lead the side in the one-off Test against Afghanistan after missing out on the tour of New Zealand earlier this year due to an injury.
Bangladesh 15-man Squad for the only Test against Afghanistan.#BCB #RiseOfTheTigers#BANvAFG pic.twitter.com/HrVaJ15yDY
— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) August 30, 2019
Taskin Ahmed, Abu Jayed and Ebadat Hossain are the three pacers selected in the squad with Bangladesh taking a spin-heavy approach for the Test. There are as many as five spinners in the squad including Shakib with Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain and Nayeem Hasan making up the rest of the contingent.
The hosts have announced no specialist replacement for open Tamim Iqbal with Shadman Islam likely to partner Soumya Sarkar at the top of the innings.
Afghanistan had earlier announced their squad for their maiden Test with Bangladesh with star leg-spinner Rashid Khan elected as their skipper.
Bangladesh 15-man squad
Shakib Al Hasan (c), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Liton Das, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Abu Jayed, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain.
