Bangladesh opening batsman Imrul Kayes has been ruled out of contention for the one-off Test against India, which starts on Thursday in Hyderabad. Imrul injured his left thigh while fielding on day two of the Bangladeshis' tour match against India A at the Gymkhana ground.
According to BCB media manager Rabeed Imam, it is a recurrence of the same injury that ruled Imrul out of the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch last month.
In Imrul's absence, Soumya Sarkar - who replaced him in Christchurch, opened for the first time in Tests, and scored 86 and 36 - is likely to open alongside Tamim Iqbal in Hyderabad. Bangladesh have not called up an opener as Imrul's replacement, instead flying in the middle-order batsman Mosaddek Hossain, who played the ODIs and T20s in New Zealand but was overlooked for the Tests.
Imrul's injury comes as a significant blow to Bangladesh ahead of their first-ever Test on Indian soil. While Imrul's Test record is modest - 1432 runs at 28.64 - he and Tamim have forged what is by far Bangladesh's most successful opening partnership. Together, they have scored 2205 runs, and average an impressive 47.93 as a pair with four century stands.
Bangladesh squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Tamim Iqbal, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Liton Das (wk), Mominul Haque, Shafiul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain.