Mushfiqur back in the squad for T20I series against Zimbabwe
Bangladesh star batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has been recalled for the upcoming T20I series against Zimbabwe. The 32-year-old missed the Pakistan series in January due to security concerns. While Najmul Hossain Shanto's finger injury ruled him out, Mohammad Mithun and Rubel Hossain have been dropped. Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed has also earned a maiden T20I call-up for the two-match series. Here is the full squad.
Full squad: Mahmudullah (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mohamamd Saifuddin, Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Nasum Ahmed
Spinner Nasum Ahmed played a crucial role for Chattogram Challengers, which made it to the second qualifier before they were knocked out in the recently concluded Bangladesh Premier League. He snapped up six wickets from 13 matches in the tournament. Overall, the 25-year old has scalped eight wickets in 17 T20s at an economy rate of 7.23.
Bangladesh missed the services of Mushfiqur in Pakistan as he denied to tour the nation. They were beaten 0-2 in the T20I series before facing defeat in the first Test by an innings and 44 runs. However, the marquee wicket-keeper racked up an unbeaten double hundred in Bangladesh's Test victory against Zimbabwe. It will be interesting to see how he fares in the T20Is.
Bangladesh will be high on confidence after winning the one-off Test against Zimbabwe. They have now gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series with one match to go. Earlier, skipper Mashrafe Mortaza announced that he will step down from captaincy after the third ODI. The Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka will host the two T20Is on March 9 and 11 respectively.
