Bangladesh recall Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim for Afghanistan T20Is
Bangladesh have recalled Shakib Al Hasan in their T20I squad for the Afghanistan series. Shakib had skipped Bangladesh's three-match home series against Pakistan last year in November. Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das have returned to Bangladesh set up for the two-match series. Munim Shahriar has earned a national call up following his standout performance in the just-concluded Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League T20 2022.
Why does this story matter?
Liton and Mushfiqur missed Bangladesh's last series due to bubble fatigue while Shakib was ruled out from Pakistan T20I with injury. Munim has been included to create depth in Bangladesh's batting line-up. Another uncapped player, Yasir Ali has also been picked in their 14-man squad while the likes of Nazmul Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Aminul Islam, Saif Hasan, and Akbar Ali were ignored.
Bangladesh's T20I squad for Afghanistan series
Bangladesh squad: Mahmudullah (captain), Liton Kumar Das, Munim Shahriar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shohidul Islam, Md Naim Sheikh.
BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin on Munim and Ali's inclusion
''We have kept a close eye on Munim for quite some time. We had kept him in the High-Performance Unit earlier and now we want to see how he performs at the international level,'' Abedin told Cricbuzz. ''Yasir did well in BPL and we are aware of his hitting ability," he added. Abedin added that they want to test Ali in the middle-order slot.
A look at Munim and Ali's performance in BPL 2022
Munim amassed 178 runs for Fortune Barishal in six games in BPL 2022 at an average of 29.66. He struck one fifty in the tournament and maintained a strike rate of 152.13. Meanwhile, Ali accumulated 2019 runs for Khulna Tigers in 11 encounters while maintaining a strike rate of 134.49. He maintained an average of 31.28 in the event.
A look at the schedule
The three-match ODI series will be played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. The first ODI is scheduled to take place on February 23 while the second and third will be held on February 25 and February 28 respectively. The T20I tournament opener will be played on March 3 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. The second game will be held on March 5.
