Bangladesh’s Asia Cup team was named yesterday, and the only new player is young Tanzid Hasan Tamim. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) made some interesting choices, and most of them were made with the future in mind after talking with the team management, head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, and newly named ODI captain Shakib Al Hasan.
The selection process was fair, so there wasn’t much room for debate, and there weren’t many choices besides the 17 people picked for the Asia Cup. The team was only picked for the Asia Cup, not for the upcoming series against New Zealand or the World Cup, the officials said yesterday.
The most interesting part of the choice was that Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, and all-rounder Mahedi Hasan were all on the team. Shamim hasn’t played in an ODI yet, but he played well in the first T20I against Afghanistan under pressure and was rewarded for it.
Mahedi last played for the Tigers in the last Asia Cup, which was played in the T20 version and took place last year. He had been having trouble since then, but his success in the Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, which just ended, and the fact that he is an off-spinner who can also bat made the team management want him.
Afif, on the other hand, didn’t do as well as expected, and his selection was the most talked about by the judges. He was chosen for his promise.
“We’ve talked a lot about each player. We talked a lot about Afif and why the management of the team wanted him. “We took into account what the captain and head coach wanted, and that’s how we helped him,” Minhajul Abedin, the top selection, said about Afif at a press meeting yesterday.
Along with Mehedi Hasan Miraz, the other three players could be in the running for the seventh or eighth spot in the hitting order. Minhajul said that, based on the descriptions, these picks were not made with the batting order in mind, but rather with how useful they could be.
“It doesn’t matter if we play them at 7 or 8 p.m. They will be played wherever the team’s management thinks is best. It’s not like they have been put in certain places. Depending on what the team needs, they may bat higher or lower in the order.”
After starter Tamim Iqbal got hurt, the team management chose Tanzid and Mohammad Naim to be in the group. In the Emerging Teams Asia Cup, Tanzid got a prize for making three 50s. Even though Naim hadn’t been as good on the international stage as he was at home, he was carried because the team needed a backup choice at the starting spot.
People were very interested in Mahmudullah Riyad’s participation, but the 37-year-old was dropped from the last three ODI series after the England ODI series at home in March of this year. The team management’s plan worked against his Asia Cup participation.
“At first, we talked for a long time about Mahmudullah [Riyad]. After that, the team’s managers told us how they plan to deal with each team in the Asia Cup. “After thinking about all of these options, Riyad was left off the team,” Minhajul said. He also said that Soumya Sarkar wasn’t talked about for the Asia Cup.
All the usual names were there, and Nasum Ahmed came back to the team and was picked over Taijul Islam. The Tigers have also chosen all five of their pacers. Rotation is a key part of getting ready for the World Cup, and the Tigers have done that.