Mominul named BD captain for Tests, Mustafizur makes return

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Tuesday announced their revised squad for the two-match Test series T20Is against India amid the turbulence of the player strike and Shakib Al Hasan’s ban.

Mominul Haque has been named Bangladesh’s captain for the Tests and experienced all-rounder Mahmudullah takes over as captain in T20Is.

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam replaces Shakib in the T20 squad that was originally named, while Abu Hider replaces all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin who was ruled out last week due to a recurring back injury.

Mohammed Mithun has also been drafted in for Tamim Iqbal, who was previously replaced by Imrul Kayes after opting out to stay home for the birth of his second child.

Kayes has, however, been named in the Test squad. He currently leads the run-scoring charts in the National Cricket League (NCL).

New captain Mominul will also have left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman available to pick, as the seamer comes in for Taskin Ahmed, who missed Bangladesh’s match against Afghanistan in September.

Mustafizur last played a Test in March 2019, on Bangladesh’s curtailed tour of New Zealand. Fellow seamer Al-Amin Hossain also returns to the squad - he last played a Test in October 2014 and his last Bangladesh appearance was in March 2016.

Twenty-year-old batsman Saif Hassan has broken into a senior squad for the first time on the back of a strong showing in the NCL and on an A tour of Sri Lanka. Hassan has made two hundreds and a fifty in his last four innings in October - a List A hundred against Sri Lanka, and innings of 220* and 72 for Dhaka Division. He averages 46.18 in 36 first-class matches since his debut in 2015.

Bangladesh T20I squad: Mahmudullah (captain), Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Aminul Islam, Arafat Sunny, Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Mohammad Mithun, Taijul Islam, Abu Hider

Bangladesh Test squad: Shadman Islam, Imrul Kayes, Saif Hassan, Mominul Haque (captain), Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Abu Jayed, Ebadat Hossain.