Anamul Haque was rewarded for his recent performance in the domestic circuit as the wicketkeeper-batsman was among the five changes brought to Bangladesh's ODI squad, announced yesterday, for the first two matches of the upcoming tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
Soumya Sarkar and Taskin Ahmed were axed from an ODI squad for the first time in their careers, with chief selector Minhajul Abedin saying that both cricketers need a break and were dropped for their recent poor form. Liton Das, Mominul Haque and Shafiul Islam were the three other cricketers dropped from the previous squad which played in South Africa in October last year.
Left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman, who was ruled out of the ODI series in South Africa after twisting his ankle, was included while wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Mithun and pacer Abul Hasan also made a comeback to the squad.
Anamul played his last ODI in 2015 during the ICC World Cup against New Zealand and has been in fine form recently in the domestic circuit, scoring 1077 first-class runs at an average of 63.35 in 2017, including two double hundreds in the National Cricket League. He also scored 596 runs in 16 innings in the Dhaka Premier League before completing the year with 206 runs in eight Bangladesh Premier League innings at a strike-rate of 128.75.
According to Minhajul, among the three wicketkeepers in the squad Mushfiqur Rahim will be the first choice while Anamul and Mithun are in the squad mostly for their batting.
Mithun, who played the last of his two ODIs in 2014, was considered for his recent form in the domestic circuit. The right-hander was the fifth-highest run-scorer of the BPL, scoring 325 runs in 15 games, and was instrumental in Rangpur Riders' triumph.
Perhaps the only surprise inclusion in the squad is pacer Abul Hasan, who played his last ODI in 2015 and was picked ahead of two BPL performers in Abu Haider and Abu Jayed.
According to Minhajul, the seamer was included to add strength to the fast bowling department with the cold weather in mind.
On the other hand, Soumya has undergone a lean patch in 2017, scoring 243 runs in 11 ODI innings at an average of 24.30 with just two fifties. Taskin also lost his way and picked up just 10 wickets in 12 ODIs in 2017 at an economy rate of 6.60.
Both cricketers will play the upcoming Bangladesh Cricket League. Soumya informed that he will try to work on his shortcomings and is hopeful of making a comeback to the side.
“I will be playing the BCL from January 9 and as it is a longer-version format it will allow me to stay longer at the crease, which I think is important for my batting. I was facing the problem of getting out after being set at the crease so I will try to overcome that and I think if I can score big knocks it will bring the rhythm back to my batting,” Soumya said after being dropped from the Bangladesh side yesterday.
BCB XI team for Zim practice match on Jan 13:
Nazmul Hossain (Captain), Anamul Haque, Mosaddek Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Abul Hasan, Ariful Haque, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Imran Ali, Ebadat Hossain, Khalid Hasan, Tanbir Hayder.
