Stalwart Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and swashbuckling opener Tamim Iqbal returned to the national squad as the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced an 18-member squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa, which is to be played in March-April.
South Africa and Bangladesh will clash in three ODIs which will be played in Johannesburg and Centurion from March 18-23. Then the two sides will play 2 Tests in Durban from March 31 and in Port Elizabeth from April 12 respectively.
Shakib had reportedly skipped Bangladesh's Test series against New Zealand to play the IPL and had initially asked the Bangladesh board to skip Test matches for the next six months and wrote a letter to the board.
However, BCB president Nazmul Hassan had said that since Shakib was not picked in the IPL 2022 auction, he should be playing in South Africa Tests.
“When we asked him, he said that he will miss Tests against South Africa and Sri Lanka because of the IPL. I replied that you have to play against Sri Lanka, to which he agreed. Now that he is not going to the IPL, I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t play the Test series in South Africa. So forget about it. This is no longer in my mind. The IPL was preventing him from playing [the two-Test series], but now he will play [both series],” Hassan was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
Bangladesh's ODI captain Tamim Iqbal's name was also in the squad as he will return after missing out on the home series against Pakistan back in November and the tour against New Zealand back in January due to injury concerns.
Opener Mohammad Naim's name was omitted from the Test squad after his unimpressive performances in New Zealand, despite Bangladesh recording their first-ever win over the Kiwis in the country in the first Test played at Mount Maunganui.
Bangladesh ODI Squad:
Tamim Iqbal (captain), Liton Das, Najmul Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hassan, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Yasir Ali, Mahmudul Hasan, and Khaled Ahmed.
Bangladesh Test Squad:
Mominul Haque (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudul Hasan, Najmul Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Yasir Ali, Taijul Islam, Mehidy Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Jayed, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Shohidul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Shadman Islam and Nurul Hasan.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)
