Bangladesh announced its 15-member squad on Tuesday, May 14, for the upcoming T20 World Cup, which is slated to be held in the West Indies and USA in June. The squad saw the return of senior batter Mahmudullah, who was not part of the side for the previous World Cup in Australia in 2022.
Najmul Hossain Shanto will lead his squad, with Taskin Ahmed as his deputy. Although the latter is nursing an injury, experts are confident he will recover in time. As a result, Hasan Mahmud has been flown to the USA as a backup, along with fellow reserve Afif Hossain.
Litton Das, Towhid Hridoy, and Shanto will lead the batters, while Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, and Shakib Al Hasan are the stars in the bowling unit. One of the biggest shockers was the inclusion of Tanzid Hasan Sakib in the squad at the expense of Mohammad Saifuddin.
“The reason we focused on Saifuddin a lot, although he did not get to bat in three matches, was because of his ability to bowl yorkers. His ability to bowl yorkers was not displayed, and there is a lot of improvement to be made. We noticed a difference in his performance from domestic to international cricket,” chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain said.
He (Saifuddin) was on our minds. As you said, considering the BPL, we had readied a team [for May 1] and did not make too many changes from that side. Saifuddin is the only player who did not make it from that side,” he added.
“But when we considered what the team needed, Tanzim was ahead of Saifuddin. It was a close call between the two. We have seen Tanzim Sakib in the Sri Lanka series as well. His dedication and work ethic to deliver kept him in front.”
As mentioned earlier, this team sees the return of the veteran Mahmudullah. The veteran middle-order batter is bound to add a lot of experience and heft to Bangladeshi batting in this tournament and is expected to deliver whenever the chips are down.
The duo of Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan will play a major role for Bangladesh in the West Indies and the USA.
As anticipated, Bangladesh has strategically named an extremely spin-heavy bowling attack for the tournament. Mahedi Hasan, Tanvir Islam, and Rishad Hossain are the leading spinners in the ranks. At the same time, Shakib Al Hasan plays the all-rounder’s role. This calculated move is in response to the expected pitch conditions in the West Indies and USA, which are likely to aid many turns.
