Bangladesh national selection chief Minhajul Abedin is confident of the squad declared for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Bangladesh Cricket Board Thursday announced a 15-member squad for the world event without any surprise inclusion although Tamim Iqbal misses out.
Left-handed opener Tamim earlier this month opted out of the tournament citing under preparation due to long knee injury, and that he did not want to take the place of openers who have been playing in the format more regularly than him in recent times.
But as it happened, media reports soon revealed Tamim’s decision alongside the facts which he stated were also driven by emotion.
It is understood that when Tamim’s name was put on the table in one of the selection meetings, questions were raised regarding the process and head coach Russell Domingo emphasized that a junior player will have to pave way had Tamim got included in the T20 World Cup squad.
It is learnt the BCB delayed the announcement of the squad as they looked for ways to move Tamim from his decision, which eventually did not work.
“Of course, he is one of the best cricketers we have in all three formats. Now it was his decision to opt out from the team. We were confident of having him in the squad, but it is really unfortunate. We [the selection panel] and the team will miss Tamim. We are confident that he will return to the T20 team [following the T20 World Cup],” said chief selector Minhajul to the media Thursday.
Bangladesh have opening options in Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Naim.
“It is a big platform for those [openers] who got included. They of course have the ability to perform and we have enough confidence on these openers going into the T20 World Cup,” said former Bangladesh captain Minhajul.
Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup will first have to play the qualifiers and then the main event if they finish first or second in the group.
Bangladesh in the first phase of the competition have been slotted in Group B and will contest with Oman, Papua New Guinea and Scotland.
In Group A Ireland, Netherlands, Namibia and Sri Lanka will fight it out for two more places in the Super 12s.
The groups were selected on the basis of team ranking as of March 20, 2021.
