Anamul, Taijul recalled; Jayed axed
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday announced a 14-member Bangladesh squad, led by Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, for the three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Anamul Haque and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam were included in the team as replacements for Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das, who had previously asked for leave from the tour due to personal reasons.
Apart from Shakib and Liton, pacer Abu Jayed, who was also in Bangladesh’s World Cup squad, was not included in the 14-member side as the selectors wanted to include an extra spinner in the absence of Shakib.
Anamul remained one of the close contenders for a place in the World Cup squad following his three consecutive hundreds in the Dhaka Premier League while the wicketkeeper-batsman was also in fine touch in a four-day match against Afghanistan A team, striking a century which prompted the selectors to include him.
Taijul Islam
However, another top order batsman, Yasir Ali, who despite being picked for the tri-nation series in Ireland ahead of the World Cup this year, was not considered for the Sri Lanka tour, raising questions over the lack of foresight in the selection process.
“Anamul is going as the replacement of Liton. He has been playing consistent cricket in the domestic circuit and has been playing really well in all the formats. We have received good reports about Anamul from the A team and the High- Performance side. We needed an experienced player in the top order and both the existing batsmen are left-handers [Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar], so we needed a right handed batsman at the top order,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin told reporters yesterday.
Anamul made a comeback to the ODI team during the tour of West Indies in July last year but the 26-year-old failed to utilise the opportunity, scoring 0, 23 and ten runs in the three ODIs.
“I have been waiting for this day and now my main aim is to play well. As a cricketer I always believe that performance is everything and I want to play well. I hope that I will be able to utilise the opportunity this time around,” Anamul said yesterday.
The cricketers will begin a three-day training camp today before departing for Sri Lanka on July 20. Bangladesh will take part in a warm up game on July 23 ahead of their match against hosts Sri Lanka in the first of the three-match ODI series on July 26.
The remaining two matches of the series will take place on July 28 and 31 respectively while the team are expected to return on August 1. All the matches of the series will take place at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
