Nasir, Shafiul recall for first Test against Australia
Dhaka: All-rounder Nasir Hossain and pacer Shafiul Islam has been recalled in the first Test against Australia when Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced a 14-memebr final squad against Australia.
BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu announced the final Test squad through a press conference held on Saturday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur. The first Test will begin on August 27 in Dhaka.
Nasir has performed brilliantly in domestic cricket since being left out of the national side and managed to make a comeback in the ODI side during the tri nation earlier this year against New Zealand. He played the last of his 17 Tests against South Africa two years ago at home. Overall, he has played 17 Tests for Bangladesh and scored 861 runs in 21 innings including six fifties and a century. He took eight wickets with the ball.
The 25-year-old was in superb form in Bangladesh's first-class season when he registered his maiden double century.
On the other hand, pacer Shafiul Islam has returned to the squad once again. He played nine Tests and took 15 wickets for Bangladesh. His previous appearance in Tests was against England in Chittagong last year. He is one of the three pacers in the squad alongside Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
However the selector did not consider Test regulars Mahmudullah Riyad and Mominul Haque, both were not part of Bangladesh historic 100th Test that they won in Sri Lanka. Mahmudullah was dropped from Bangladesh's XI in their 100th Test in Colombo against Sri Lanka this year. This time he couldn't retain his position in the squad.
Mominul's form has been dropped down in recent times. He scored only one fifty in six innings this year. Like Mahmudullah, the left-hander was also dropped for the Colombo Test.
Bangladesh Test squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (c), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Liton Das, Mosaddek Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shafiul Islam and Mustafizur Rahman