The Bangladesh Cricket Board has announced the 16-man squad for the upcoming tour of Pakistan.
The Bangladesh team will leave for Pakistan Monday for two World Test Championship matches in Rawalpindi and Karachi.
The first Test begins on August 21 while the second match starts on August 30.
The squad will assemble in Lahore and will train at Gaddafi Stadium from August 14-16 before traveling to Islamabad on August 17 for the first Test.
During the squad announcement, Gazi Ashraf Hossain, chairman of the national selection panel, pointed to the nice balance of the side and urged for a team effort to overcome the Pakistan test.
“The emphasis was on picking our best players for this version. This is a well balanced squad. The likes of Mushfiqur (Rahim), Mominul (Haque) and Shakib (al Hasan) have played 216 matches combined and there is no substitute for that kind of experience. Taijul (Islam) and Miraz (Mehedi Hasan) have been leading the spin department for a long time and have over 350 wickets between them. We also expect Shanto (Nazmul Hossain), Liton (Das) and the other batsmen to step up because to be competitive against Pakistan, we will need a team effort," he said.
“Pakistan are very tough opponents, especially in their home front and it will be a challenging tour for us. It is good that we will get additional time to prepare in Lahore. Also, some players who are in Pakistan already with the Bangladesh A side, will join the national team for the Test series. Their experience of the conditions should come in handy.
“We have selected five pacers mindful of the fact that Taskin Ahmed will only play the second Test. He hasn’t bowled in a Test since June last year and we have decided to include him in the A Team for the second four-dayer against Pakistan A to get him into the rhythm for longer version matches. Also, a couple of the pacers may join the A Team for the one-day matches and therefore we needed backups. Our attack has variety with bowlers who can bowl fast and also swing the ball and I am really looking forward to seeing them perform against world class batsmen."
Squad
Nazmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib al Hasan, Liton Das, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Nahid Rana, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Syed Khaled Ahmed