Bangladesh Cricket Board selectors have announced the squad of the Tigers ahead of their T20I series against Afghanistan. There have been some changes to the squad as the likes of Taskin Ahmed, Nurul Hasan Sohan and Imrul Kayes couldn’t find a place in the final 15.

The last time Bangladesh played a T20I series was against Sri Lanka and India in the Nidahas trophy. While they might not have won the final to lift the cup, they did dump out the hosts and gave India a run for their money in the final.

From that squad, the aforementioned three players have been axed and the only new face in the squad is Mosaddek Hossain. While Mosaddek might not have flattering numbers in the T20 circuit – scoring 597 runs from 36 innings at an average of 22.11 and a strike-rate of a modest 108.74 – he is one of the most consistent performers in the first-class arena.

He also had a decent outing in the Dhaka Premier League, where he mostly batted at number 6 or 7 for eventual champions Abahani Limited and played some unbeaten innings to help his team to glory.

In his last innings in the Bangladesh Cricket League – the country’s premier first-class competition – he scored an unbeaten century while batting at number 8.

The reason for his selection, according to Minjahul Abedin, is that he wanted the team to have more all-rounders since there are concerns about Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s fitness.

‘We have replaced [Nurul Hasan] Sohan with Mosaddek Hossain because we already have two wicketkeepers and wanted an extra all-rounder as there are some uncertainties over Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s fitness. He is still not completely fit from his hand injury.’

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Ariful Haque, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nazmul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider, Rubel Hossain, Abu Jayed