Khaled Ahmed earns surprise call
||CF Correspondent||
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced the squad for the two-match Test series against Zimbabwe, on Thursday (October 25).
Ariful Haque, Mohammad Mithun, Khaled Ahmed, and Nazmul Islam are the four uncapped players in the Test squad. Khaled, who was impressive in the tour of Ireland, looked to be the only surprise call-up in the squad that was bolstered through the return of Mustafizur Rahman.
"We are nursing Khaled in the High performance unit for a long time. At present the amount of pace bowlers that we have in the HP unit he is the fastest and we believe he can be real asset for the future. While he also did well in the Ireland tour with Bangladesh A team," BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin told reporters after the team was announced.
Selectors brought in five changes in the absence of Shakib al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, who are nursing their respective injuries.
Rubel Hossain, Kamrul Islam, and Nurul Hasan, who were part of the Bangladesh squad for the Test series against West Indies, failed to retain their place against the Zimbabweans.
Ariful Haque, who is yet to make a ODI debut, despite being part of the national squad since the Asia Cup campaign, also looked to have got the nod due to his all-round ability.
"At home soil you need few batsman late in the order who can score runs quickly and as our wickets are slow its importance get even bigger and due to that we included Ariful.
"Ariful also bowled medium pace in the National Cricket League so we can use him as a third seamer as well," said the chief selector.
According to Minhajul, they did not try to experiment too much as they are not willing to take any chances against Zimbabwe considering they will take West Indies shortly after the series against West Indies.
"We tried to put our best possible team and considering West Indies failed to impress recently they will try to come hard against us. We formed the team thinking for the present and future and we need to make sure we end the series on a high to have the best possible confidence ahead of the series against West Indies," said Minhajul.
BCB decided to keep their faith on Mahmudullah as the Test skipper in the absence of Shakib.
The first Test starts in Sylhet on 03 November while the second Test is at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka from 11-15 November. Bangladesh have already won the three-ODI series with one match in hand. The third and final ODI will be held on October 26, in Chittagong.
Bangladesh Test Squad
Mahmudullah Riyad (Captain), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Mominul Haque, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Ariful Haque, Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Abu Jayed Rahi, Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Khaled Ahmed, Nazmul Islam.
