Fresh faces in 35-man list
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has called up 35 cricketers for a conditioning camp ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan and the following T20I tri-nation series featuring Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. Interestingly, Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was also included in the 35-member list even though there are no ODI matches scheduled for the upcoming series.
“You know Mashrafe was advised to stay away from cricketing activities for 21 days due to a hamstring injury for which he had missed the Sri Lanka tour. He [Mashrafe] is under the national payroll, so we have to look into his fitness. We included Mashrafe as a part of his rehabilitation programme,” said chief selector Minhajul Abedin yesterday.
Mohammad Saifuddin was the only notable omission from the list but it was expected as the all-rounder has been complaining of back pain. The BCB are also considering the possibility of sending the all-rounder abroad to have a better examination of the back issue which has plagued the player for the past nine years.
“Saifuddin may be include later if his rehabilitation starts,” informed Minhajul.
“We called up some fresh faces from the High Performance programme as we are going to play a T20I series and there is also as young leg-spinner [Aminul Islam],” he added.
The camp is set to begin on August 19 and players who were called up are expected to report to the national team strength and conditioning coach Mario Villavarayen. Villavarayen will conduct the conditioning camp for four to five days before the Bangladesh’s new head coach Russell Domingo takes the reigns later this week.
Afghanistan will arrive in Dhaka on August 30. The one-off Test will take place at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram from September 5 while the tri-nation series will start on September 13.
PLAYERS IN CONDITIONING CAMP
Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mahmudullah Riyad, Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Shadman Islam, Jahirul Islam, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Mominul Haque, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Ariful Haque, Farhad Reza, Abu Jayed, Abu Haider, Taijul Islam, Yasir Ali, Nazmul Hossain, Saif Hasan, Afif Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Nayeem Shaik, Shahidul Islam, Shafiqul Islam, Yasin Arafat, Mehidy Hasan, Aminul Islam and Ebadot Hossain.
