Mustafizur Rahman dropped from Test squad vs Pakistan: Details here
Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman has been dropped from the squad for the upcoming opening Test against Pakistan, starting Friday, in Rawalpindi. His poor form and fitness are known to be the reason for his ax, as he also did not play the previous series against India. Meanwhile, he has been replaced by fellow pacer Rubel Hossain. Here are further details.
As far as Rahman's Test career is concerned, it was off to a decent start, as since 2015, he has claimed 28 wickets in 21 innings, at an average of 35.2, with his best innings figures of 4/37. However, his performance has taken a sharp decline of late. Since 2019, he has played just a Test, where he claimed a solitary wicket.
"Mustafiz was dropped for his poor performance. He is in and out of the team for quite some time and doesn't play longer-format matches regularly. His white-ball performances are not satisfactory," said Bangladesh chief selector Minhajul Abedin.
As far as his replacement is concerned, Rubel has a good experience, having played 26 Tests so far. However, his performance has hardly been impressive, claiming 33 wickets at a poor average of 80.3, with the best innings figures of 5/166. Also, he has not played the format for a long time, with his last Test being in July 2018.
As for the other changes in the side, openers Imrul Kayes and Shadman Islam, along with off-spinner Mehidy Hasan, had injury concerns, leading them to be dropped. They have been replaced by veteran opener Tamim Iqbal and Najmul Hossain, along with Soumya Sarkar. Also, wicket-keeper batsman, Mushfiqur Rahim, has opted out due to security concerns.
Bangladesh squad for Rawalpindi Test: Mominul Haque (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Saif Hasan, Najmul Hossain, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun (wk), Liton Das (wk), Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed, Al-Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Soumya Sarkar.
