Right-handed batter Towhid Hridoy, fast bowler Rejaur Rahman Raja and left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam bagged their maiden call in the T20I fold as Bangladesh Cricket Board Wednesday announced the squad for the first and second Twenty20 internationals against visitors England.
Hridoy and Rejaur both featured for Bangladesh Premier League T20 finalists Sylhet Strikers with flamboyant performances.
Top-order batter Hridoy, who earlier made it through to the ODI fold in the three-match series against the same opponents, had finished as the third highest scorer with 403 runs in 13 games with an average of 36.63 and 140.41 strike rate.
Right-arm paceman Raja on the other hand picked up 13 wickets in eight matches.
Spinner Tanvir emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the competition with 17 scalps in 12 games.
Alongside the newbies, batters Rony Talukdar and Shamim Hossain also returned to the 20-over set-up based on their recent domestic performances, particularly BPL.
The quintet took the places of batter Yasir Ali Chowdhury, all-rounder Mosaddek Hossain, top-order batter Soumya Sarkar and fast bowlers Shoriful Islam and Ebadot Hossain.
The three-match T20I series between Bangladesh and England is scheduled to start in Chittagong on March 9.
The second and third matches are slated for March 12 and 14 respectively in Dhaka.
This will be the first bilateral T20I series between the two teams.
Squad
Shakib al Hasan (Captain), Liton Das, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Afif Hossain, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nasum Ahmed, Nurul Hasan, Shamim Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Towhid Hridoy, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Tanvir Islam
