IRELAND TOUR OF BANGLADESH, 2023
Afif Hossain left out of Bangladesh squad for Ireland T20Is
by Atif Azam • Last updated on Wed, Mar 22, 2023
Uncapped cricketers Rishad Hossain and Jaker Ali have been included in Bangladesh’s 14-member squad for the T20I series against Ireland. Meanwhile, T20 specialist Afif Hossain and wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan were left out for the three-match series.
Afif had also been left out of the ODI squad for the final game against Ireland while Shoriful Islam was released from the ODI set-up to take part in the Dhaka Premier League. Shoriful, however, will return for the Ireland T20Is. There was also no place in the squad for Tanvir Islam and Rezaur Rahman, who were part of the squad that featured against England.
The in-form wicketkeeper-batter Jaker has been knocking on the selection doors for quite some time while Rishad, a legspinner, is also a useful batter down the order and a good fielder apart from providing the wrist-spin option that Bangladesh have been looking for.
“Since the series is against Ireland we want to see the progress of Rishad as the management are keen to have a wrist spinner. We feel he is well prepared being in the High Performance [HP] unit for a long period of time,” BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin said.
The three T20Is are scheduled on March 27, 29 and 31 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. Following that, both teams will fly to Dhaka to play on the one-off Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium from April 4.
Bangladesh T20I squad: Shakib Al Hasan [Captain], Litton Kumer Das, Rony Talukdar, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Rishad Hossain, Jaker Ali Anik.
