Bangladesh announce squad for Afghanistan T20Is, Shakib and Mushfiqur return

Afghanistan will be visiting Bangladesh for a limited-overs bilateral series starting February 23. The hosts have named the squad for the upcoming series and recalled veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan for the two-match T20I series. An injury had forced Shakib to miss the Pakistan T20Is. Meanwhile, the three-time Asia Cup finalists have also decided to give chance to an uncapped player in their 14-member squad for the shortest format and he is Munim Shahriar.

After an impressive performance in the recently-concluded Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2022, Shahriar would be looking to make the most of his opportunities playing with the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Liton Kumar Das. The Mymensingh cricketer amassed 178 runs in six matches at a strike rate of 152 in BPL 2022 for Fortune Barishal who finished as the runners-up losing to Comilla Victorians agonizingly by one run.

We have kept a close eye on Munim for quite some time: BCB chief selector

”We have kept a close eye on Munim for quite some time. We had also kept him in the High-Performance Unit earlier and now we want to see how he performs at the international level,’ said BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin as quoted by Cricbuzz. Before the T20Is, the two teams will lock horns in the three-match ODI series starting from February 23.

The second and third ODIs will be played on February 25 and 28 respectively. All the One Day Internationals will be held at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram while the two T20Is will be contested at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on March 3 and 5.  Explosive opener Tamim Iqbal will be leading Bangladesh in the One Day series while the middle-order sensation Mahmadullah will be captaining the T20I side.

Both teams would be hoping to make the most of their opportunities in the upcoming series, especially in the shortest format with an eye on the Asia Cup T20 and the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 later this year. While Bangladesh have home advantage to bank on, the Afghans just cannot be underestimated by any means as they have a lot of quality players on their side who can be potential match-winners on their day.

Bangladesh T20I squad: Mahmudullah (Captain), Liton Kumar Das, Munim Shahriar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shohidul Islam, Md Naim Sheikh