Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das return for T20Is against New Zealand
Senior Bangladesh cricketers Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das have returned for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand at home. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced a 19-member squad on Thursday. The duo is joined by Aminul Islam who also returns to the side after taking a personal leave. Here are further details on the same.
Bangladesh chief selector Minhajul Abedin told Cricbuzz that they are relieved to get back Mushfiqur and Liton. He has backed the two batters to make the most out of this series ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup. He also said Aminul gives the side some variety as the management is looking to see how he can fit in the playing XI.
Liton had returned home early from the Zimbabwe tour to attend to a sick family member and ended up missing the Australia series that the hosts won 4-1. Meanwhile, 22-year-old all-rounder Aminul, who lost his father while on national duty in Zimbabwe, had opted out of the Australia series as well.
Mushfiqur was forced out of the just-concluded home series against Australia after opting out of the Zimbabwe series prior to that to be by the side of his ailing parents. He went on to miss Cricket Australia's stringent 10-day quarantine requirement deadline.
Top-order batter and backup keeper Mohammad Mithun, who incidentally last played a T20I for Bangladesh on their New Zealand tour at the start of the year, has also been included in the 19-member squad. Minhajul said Mithun needs to get runs. "As far as Mithun is concerned, he needs to get some runs under his belt to get back his confidence," he said.
Bangladesh's T20I squad: Mahmudullah (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Afif Hossain, Naim Sheikh, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shamim Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shaif Uddin, Shoriful Islam, Taijul Islam, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam Biplob, Nasum Ahmed
Earlier, it was reported that the New Zealand cricket team will arrive in Dhaka on August 24 according to the itinerary released by the BCB. They will play a warm-up game on August 29 before the first match of the series which will be played on September 1. All five matches will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.
