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Three new faces in

Selectors' love for pace lifts eyebrows

Sports Reporter
Three uncapped players got the nod when the national selectors announced a 14-member squad on Monday for the three-match one-day series against New Zealand that will start on October 9 at the Sher-c-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
The blooding of youngsters is hardly an unpractised trend in national team selections. Nearly every series sees one or two rookies being thrown into the deep end. This time however, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had a valid excuse which chief selector Rafiqul Alam was quick to stress on.
The soft-spoken selector said that his panel was forced to bring in opener Imrul Kayes, middle-order batsman Nayeem Islam and pacer Mahbubul Alam following the
retirement of some national players. However he seemed certain that the rookies were ready to take the challenge at the highest level.
From the party that toured Australia, Alok Kapali, Dhiman Ghosh and Forhad Reza joined the unauthorised Indian Cricket League (ICL) along with eleven others and thereby received a ten-year ban by the BCB.
Former national player Rafiqul Alam, who was up against the most volatile press so far in his eleven month tenure, came up with amusing explanations at the official briefing when asked about the inclusion of four pacers and lefthanded batsman Mehrab Hossain, who made only one run on the Australia tour although he had made a hundred in the practice match, in the side.
The question was raised about why they picked four pacers, especially the inexperienced Mahbubul Alam, when even the Kiwis were
talking about the slow pitches here.
"What we thought that Robin [Mahbubul Alam| will get a chance to learn from our coach [Jamie Siddons)," said a bemused Rafiqul.
He made it clear that conditions did not play a role in selection as he later added: "He [Mahbubul Alam] might even play. We considered Robin in place of Dollar [Mahmud] who failed to fulfil our expectations. On the other hand Robin was excellent last year at different levels as an attacking pace bowler."
The answers descended to farce when Rafiqul explained the rea-
sons behind Mehrab Hossain's place. "If you compare him to TYishar [Imran], I must say he is getting highest training facilities to prepare himself."
The selection committee also bemoaned the lackof international options following the departure of some experienced players.
"The situation forced us to bring in some new players because of player retirement which left little options for us. Opening was a big problem that's why we picked Imrul as a third opener afterTamim [Iqbal] and Zunaed Siddiqui.
"Imrul showed his potential in domestic competitions and with the academy and A teams. Zunaed is also out of form but we considered his experience," explained Rafiqul, who however was not ready to consider Tushar Imran and Rajin Saleh's experience, choosing rather to focus on their poor performance. FROM PAGE 17
"We picked up Nayeem [Islam) because our regular middle-order | batsman Rokibul Hasan's injury is yet to heal, "he said.
Rafiqul refuted the allegations that they had given too many players international debuts during their eleven-month tenure.
"It's not true because there were some players who were on and off while we were forced to change sometimes due to injury. We never thought about junior or senior rather our main concentration was on the performance and there is no exception this time also," he defended.
There was another change from the last trip as fit-again wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim returned to the fold and there was no question about his return after the departure of Dhiman.
One point to note is that had the ICL-episode not taken place the captaincy issue would have definitely taken the centre stage.
Mohammad AshrafuTs continued failure as a batsman has sent off worrying signs but the BCB made it clear Ashraful has been retained as captain while Mashrafe Bin Mortaza his deputy.