Bangladesh have made six changes to their squad for the T20I tri-series at home against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe starting September 13. They left out Mehidy Hasan, Rubel Hossain and Mohammad Mithun, while Tamim Iqbal is still on a break from the game.
Fast bowler Yeasin Arafat and Test specialist Taijul Islam received their maiden T20I call-ups, while Mahedi Hasan, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain and Sabbir Rahman were recalled. Other absentees from the squad, who were part of the T20I series against West Indies earlier this year, were Abu Hider, Ariful Haque and Nazmul Islam.
Chief selector Minhajul Abedin said that the likes of Mahedi and Yeasin, who were part of the high-Performance squad this year, had been selected as part of a mandate to try new players. Taijul was picked not just because of his Test performances, but for his impressive BPL statistics over the last few years. Afif and Mahedi, meanwhile, made their T20I debuts against Sri Lanka last year, but did not make any noteworthy contributions in their respective games.
"We have to pick a new set of players, which is why we picked Mahedi and Yeasin," Minhajul said. "There's no real reason to drop Mehidy Hasan Miraz. We are just trying out some new players."
Yeasin, 20, has played just seven first-class matches and six List A games. He recently played for the Bangladesh emerging team against the touring Sri Lanka side, in which he took three wickets in the three one-day games. His impressive outings in domestic cricket had also earned him a place in the 31-man preliminary squad for the senior team's tour of the West Indies last year.
T20I squad for tri-series: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Taijul Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Yeasin Arafat