To participate in a Test series comprising two matches, the Bangladesh national cricket team left for Pakistan on Monday. The first Test will commence at Rawalpindi beginning August 21.
On Sunday, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) released the squad for this tour to Pakistan that has an imposing pace attack. IANS reports that the team will also see the return of Mushfiqur Rahim, Taskin Ahmed and Shakib Al Hasan who were absent during their previous outing.
Unfortunately, Shahadat Hossain is not included in the squad for this tour after his last appearance against Sri Lanka in March.
“Bangladesh’s Team is heading to Pakistan for the #WTC25 clash. The first Test begins on August 21 in Rawalpindi and the second on August 30 in Karachi,” according to a post by Bangladesh Cricket on X.
This marks the start of their tour when it sets down at Lahore on August 13. For training purposes, they will head directly to Gaddafi Stadium where they are expect to be from 14th-16th August. This will provide them with time to acclimatize and adapt as required towards test series’ commencement.
After staying briefly in Lahore, they would move onto Islamabad by 17th August. Prior moving into practice sessions at Rawalpindi’s Cricket Stadium between August 18th and 20th, both players are likely to hold their concentration here about grounds conditions and pitch as well within overall place where game could be taking place.
“This version was all about picking our best players,” chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain said. “This is a well-balanced squad with combined experience of more than two hundreds games between Shakib (Al Hasan), Mominul (Haque) and Mushfiqur Rahim.”
The spin department has been led for quite some time now by Taijul Islam/ Miraz and they have over 350 wickets between them. We also expect Shanto (Najmul Hossain), Litton Das (Das) and the other batsmen to step up because to be competitive against Pakistan, we will need a team effort.
“We included five pacers having considered the fact that Taskin Ahmed would only play in the second Test since he has not bowled in a test since June last year. Also, we have added him to ‘A’ Team for the second four-dayer versus Pakistan ‘A’, so as help him find his feet again in long format games,” he added.
Bangladesh Test squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Kumar Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Nahid Rana, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Syed Khaled Ahmed.
