No surprise in Tigers’ World Cup squad, hints BCB chief
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hasan on Tuesday said there is no chance of any surprise inclusion in the World Cup squad of Bangladesh.
He, however, noted the name of Yasir Ali, a young talented batsman who performed well in the last season of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), as the least who has been doing in the domestic circuit.
The BCB is likely to announce a 15-member squad for the World Cup in the first or second week of April. Before that, Nazmul Hassan said, the board will rely on the tested campaigners in the World Cup.
"I don't see any scope of a surprise inclusion in the World Cup squad. We'll announce a 15-member team, and most of the names have already been finalised. We'll have two openers alongside Tamim (Iqbal), and they could be Liton (Das) and Soumya (Sarkar). After that, we'll have Shakib (Al Hasan), Mushfiqur (Rahim) and Mahmudullah. These are six completed. We're thinking about three main pace-bowlers, and they are Mashrafe (Bin Mortaza), Rubel (Hossain) and Mustafizur (Rahman)," he said.
"You can't go to the World Cup without having two extra pacers and they could be Taskin (Ahmed) and (Mohammad) Saifuddin. We have Mehidy (Hasan Miraz) as a specialist spinner. At the same time, we need to find two players for the back-up of the middle-order, and they could be Sabbir (Rahman) and (Mohammad) Mithun. So, I don't see any chance for the new guys. Some players are doing well in domestic cricket but there're many differences between domestic and international cricket," Nazmul Hasan further said.
Some players like Anamul Haque Bijoy and Farhad Reza are doing well in the ongoing Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, but according to the BCB boss, they have a very little chance to be included in the World Cup squad of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh team management is concerned about the number seven position in the batting line. The Tigers have lost many matches in the last 2-3 years for lack of quality finishers in the batting department. The BCB president also looked puzzled while talking about the issue.
"We have Sabbir, Miraz or Saifuddin who can bat at number seven. At the same time, we also saw Soumya batted at the down of the order. If we play Liton as an opener with Tamim, we may consider Soumya for the number seven. Apart from it, we have Sabbir or Saifuddin as well," he told the media.
