T20 World Cup: Bangladesh Announce 15-Man Squad, Mahmudullah To Lead

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday named the 15-member squad for the upcoming Men's T20 World Cup in Oman and the UAE. The announcement was made a day after Bangladesh clinched their maiden T20I series victory against New Zealand with a six-wicket win in the fourth T20I at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Bangladesh recently won the T20I series against Zimbabwe 2-1 and Australia 4-1.

The squad had no major surprises and features their main players barring opener Tamim Iqbal. Iqbal had opted out of the tournament, conveying the decision through a video on Facebook that he did not want to take place of youngsters playing consistently in the format than him. Iqbal was the top run-scorer in the 2016 T20 World Cup in India with 295 runs at an average of 73.75.

Pacer Rubel Hossain and leg-spin all-rounder Aminul Islam Biplob have been named as reserve players. Nurul Hasan is likely to take up wicketkeeping duties as senior keeper Mushfiqur Rahim expressed his wish to not keep wickets in the format anymore. The squad consists of eight batsmen, two all-rounders, four frontline pacers, and one specialist spinner.

Bangladesh is placed in Group B alongside Oman, Papua New Guinea, and Scotland. They stand a chance to qualify for the Super 12 stage if they finish in the top two of their group. They will take on Scotland in their first match on October 17 at the Oman Academy Cricket Ground in Muscat, which also happens to be the opening day of the T20 World Cup.

Squad: Mahmudullah (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Kumar Das, Afif Hossain, Mohammad Naim, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shamim Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shoriful Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed.

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Reserve Players: Aminul Islam Biplob and Rubel Hossain