Bangladesh announced preliminary squad for Asia Cup 2018; include a bunch of new faces

Who will wear the crown of excellence of Asian cricket on their head? The tournament is all be played in the UAE from 15th of September 2018. This is the first time ever in the history when five Test-playing nation will fight for the biggest title of Asian cricket. It seems Bangladesh want to put their best foot forward in the Asia Cup this time and that they have announced a 31-member preliminary squad for the tournament before all the other participating teams is a testament of the fact.

BCB has extended their reliance on Anamul Haque once again. He played 7 ODIs in 2018 and managed only 88 runs with a poor average of 12.57. Imrul Kayes, Shabbir Rahman and Mosaddek Hossain Saikat also managed to get another ODI call. The preliminary squad for will start their training under newly appointed head coach Steve Rhodes from 27 August, after Eid al-Adha holidays.

The newbies

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced the squad on Tuesday afternoon. It includes 11 members who are yet to get ODI caps and four among them are still to make their international debut. They are: Shoriful Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Khaled Ahmed and Fazle Rabbi Mahmud.

Shoriful is a 17-year-old left-arm pacer who impressed Bangladeshi selectors with his tall-figure and amazing swing bowling skill in the domestic circuit. Unlike Shoriful, Nayeem Hasan is an off-break bowler who has done really well with the Bangladesh U19 team.

25-year-old Khaled Ahmed was also impressive in domestic cricket with his right-arm medium pace while Fazle Rabbi has drawn the attention to his batting ability in the middle order.

Bangladesh included this new faces in ODI set up keeping the next year’s World Cup plan in mind. Those who get a chance and manage to grab it might as well represent the country in the World Cup 2019.

Here is Bangladesh’s 31-member squad:

Masrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal Khan, Imrul Kayes, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmud Ullah, Soumya Sarkar, Shabbir Rahaman Roman, Shaif Uddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Litton Kumer Das, Abu Hider Rony, Nazmul Islam Apu, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Mominul Haque Showrab, Quazi Nurul Hasan Sohan, Rubel Hossain, Ariful Haque, Abu Jayed Chowdhury Rahi, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shoriful Islam, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Md. Zakir Hasan, Sunzamul Islam, Md. Mithun and Fazle Rabbi Mahmud

– Written by Saif Hasnat

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