Bangladesh have brought in Soumya Sarkar and Shoriful Islam to replace Mohammad Saifuddin and Sabbir Rahman in their T20 World Cup squad.
All four individuals were a part of the Bangladeshi team that competed in the just-finished tri-series in New Zealand. Despite losing all four games, technical advisor Sridharan Sriram insisted that there were benefits.
Given that Soumya and Shoriful’s performance was somewhat superior than the other two, who will now travel home from Christchurch, their inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad was inevitable.
Team management chose Soumya based on his knocks of 23 and 4. Since a dismal performance in the T20 World Cup last year, Soumya had not been selected for Bangladesh in any format. In the BPL at this break in the previous season, he scored 164 runs at a strike rate of 109.33.
Saifuddin, who hasn’t been able to perform to his full ability since making a comeback in the Asia Cup in late August, was also sacrificed by Bangladesh, who had no other pace-bowling all-rounders in the squad.
Despite not setting the world on fire in his recent T20I appearances, Shoriful takes his place. He will bowl alongside Mustafizur Rahman, another fast bowler who has been struggling with form.
Bangladesh will play two exhibition matches against Afghanistan on October 17 and South Africa on October 19 in Brisbane. On October 24, they face a team from a first-round qualifier in Hobart to start their T20 World Cup campaign.
Bangladesh T20 World Cup squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Najmul Hossain Shanto, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain. (ANI)
