Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe 2018: BCB announces 15-man squad for the Test series

Bangladesh have already won the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe with a game to go as the two sides will be lock horns in the two-match Test series as well. With Shakib Al Hasan injured and ruled out of the series, Mahmudullah has been appointed the skipper of the Test side. As many as five changes have been made to the squad that played in the Caribbean islands a few months ago.

Mustafizur Rahman has returned to the set-up after regaining full fitness by playing in the Asia Cup and the ongoing ODI series. Ariful Haque, Mohammad Mithun, Khaled Ahmed and Nazmul Islam have earned their maiden call-ups to the longest format of the game. While Mithun and Ariful are the emerging players who have done well in the shorter formats, Nazmul’s inclusion comes on the back of good show in the ODIs recently.

Who all are missing out?

Kamrul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Nurul Hasan have been axed from the team apart from Shakib and Tamim Iqbal who are out injured. “‘At home soil, you need few batsmen late in the order who can score runs quickly and as our wickets are slow, its importance gets even bigger. And due to that, we included Ariful. Ariful also bowled medium pace in the National Cricket League so we can use him as a third seamer as well,” BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

Khaled Ahmed is an exciting seamer who has been picked alongside Shafiul Islam, Abu Jayed and Mustafizur. He has earned his maiden call-up with some scintillating performances in the domestic circuit and for A side. “We are nursing Khaled in the High-Performance unit for a long time. At present the amount of pace bowlers that we have in the HP unit, he is the fastest and we believe he can be real asset for the future. While he also did well in the Ireland tour with Bangladesh A team,” Minhajul Abedin added.

The two-match series is all set to commence on November 3 at Sylhet International Stadium while the second and final game of the tour will be played in Dhaka from November 11.

Bangladesh Test squad: Mahmudullah (c), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Mominul Haque, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Ariful Haque, Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Abu Jayed, Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Khaled Ahmed, Nazmul Islam.

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