“I personally recommended Mahmudullah for the South Africa series. He plays well on fast and bouncy wickets. We have seen that he played well in England as well. The way Mahmudullah is batting at the moment, I am confident he will play well in the next series,” said chief selector Minhajul to the media. All-rounder Nasir Hossain has been dropped from the squad after returning to the Test fold against Australia. He only returned to the side for the Australia Tests after a gap of two years. He played both the Tests and scored 23, nought, 45 and five in his four innings. The chief selectors informed that Nasir’s exclusion was mainly because of team combination and planning.Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced a 15-member squad for the Tour of South Africa 2017.#SAvBAN pic.twitter.com/xBtbalecNw
— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) September 11, 2017
Also read: Shakib rested for first South Africa Test, can return for second
“We actually play cricket in two ways, at home and away. To make a balance, we always think in two ways. We have a player pool from which we select our players or even drop him. We have to consider team combination and team planning. We dropped Nasir considering his batting ability, as there will be fast and bouncy wickets in South Africa,” informed Minhajul. Top-order batsman Imrul Kayes has been struggling a bit with his form as he scored only one fifty plus innings in his last 14 Test knocks. Imrul has scored nought, two, four and 15 in the No 3 position in the batting order during his last four innings against Australia. But the chief selectors informed that they are considering his experience ahead of a challenging series against South Africa, who are currently second in the ICC Test team ranking. “We have chosen Imrul for his experience to play in South Africa. The upcoming series will be very challenging. And we don’t want to put pressure on a youngster by selecting him and send him to South Africa straight away. We will monitor Imrul’s performance in this tour. He is an experienced player in our team. We are hoping he will score runs there,” said Minhajul.
Bangladesh played two pacers in the first Test against Australia while in the second, there was only one paceman. But the scenario in South Africa will be different as conditions will be more pace-friendly there along with the pitches being more fast and bouncy. Taking that as a consideration, Bangladesh have picked five pacers in the squad - Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam and Subashish Roy. As Shakib has been granted rest for the South Africa Tests, the selectors opted for left-arm spinner Taijul Islam in the squad, along with off-spinning all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz. Bangladesh last toured South Africa in 2008 where the tourist lost the Test series 2-0. The first Test will start on September 28 in Potchefstroom while the second gets underway from October 6 in Bloemfontein.SquadMushfiqur Rahim (C & WK), Tamim Iqbal (VC), Imrul Kayes, Liton Kumar Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Mominul Haque, Shafiul Islam and Subashish RoyShakib Al Hasan asks for six-month break from Test cricket as Bangladesh prepare to name squad to face South Africa: https://t.co/t425H2mncv pic.twitter.com/V7ebqFHuRV
— Sky Sports Cricket? (@SkyCricket) September 11, 2017
