Two rookies Shamsur Rahman and Mohammad Mithun got the nod when a 15-member
Bangladesh squad was announced on Monday for the ICC World T\venty20 to be held in England in June.
Bangladesh has been pitted in group A along with defending champions India and ICC associate member Ireland in the second-version of the ICC World T\venty20 which will kick off from June 5.
The inclusion of the two promising players was not unexpected after their noteworthy performance in the domestic circuit as well as for different selections, with their stroke-making ability said to have impressed many.
The biggest surprise though was the inclusion of lanky paceman Shahadat Hossain who has been often criticized for
his erratic bowling in GDI's.
However, chief selector Rafiqul Alam defended his inclusion by saying that they considered experience in international cricket as one of the parameters.
"We have three options in this position but unfortunately experienced Nazmul Hossain is sick. We considered Shahadat ahead of Mahbubul Alam because of his experience," explained Rafiqul while speaking at a press conference at the Sher-e- Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
"Shahadat was out of form but got back his rhythm in the practice match. He has got the pace to intimidate the batsmen," he elaborated when reminded that Shahadat was the most expensive one-day bowler for the country.
The axe fell on Mehrab Hossain, Imrul Kayes, Nazmul Hossain, Mahbubul Alam, Ziaur Rahman, and Sohrawordi Shuvo when the selectors reduced the team from the 21 -member training squad.
The chairman of the selection committee Rafiqul faced a volley of questions, as he could not identify a particular basis on which the team was selected - - experi ence or past performance. Many were also surprised when he pointed out the performance in the practice matches behind a few selections.
The question was also raised about the inclusion of middle-order batsman Rokibul Hasan, who is more or less a grafter, but Rafiqul heaped praise on the
right-hander.
"He (Rokibul) is the nucleus of our batting line-up. He has been in bad form for the last two months but looked good in the practice games, "he said.
The team has four specialist pacemen including speedster Rubel Hossain but the young right-arm pacer is also out of form, “Rubel is the quickest bowler in the country and has had an encouraging debut season in international cricket He is someone who can hurry the batsmen and usq the short ball to good effect," said Rafiqul.
Rafiqul also explained the reason behind the inclusion of two rookies.
"Shamsur Rahman has come through the ranks. He has played for the Under 19s, Academy side and A Team and has had a fabulous season where he scored 1485 runs in all competitions. Mithun has nd fear and can be an asset in the 1\venty20 version with his hard-hitting approach: Besides, he has been among the runs and has made 1479 this season with a strike rate of88," said an excited Rafiqul.
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Although the selection committee expressed their frustration over the postponement of the Pakistan series, Rafiqul said that they were quite optimistic about the team's progress in the World Cup.
"The best thing is that the boy? have played together for a long time at different levels and form the nucleus of the national team that has also performed creditably against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. We made it to the Super Eight in the last World T20 competition and the initial target will be to repeat that and I am very hopefill that we'll
play some quality cricket in England," he said.
He was also not worried with his non-playing skipper Mohammad Ashraful and his deputy Mashrafe Bin Mortaza in the ongoing IPL in South Africa as he believed that five warm-up matches before die tournament proper in England would help tune them up.
"The players will play two T20 matches against the Bangladesh A team and diree T20 games against the Maharashtra Cricket Association. And we have five practice matches in England, so I think we have enough opportunity' to prepare our-
selves. On the odier hand we think Ashraful and Mashrafe arc learning something from the tournament," he said.
The Tigers are scheduled to leave for England on May 23 and will play additional warmup games at Wormsley on May 26 (against New Zealand) and May 29 (against Scotland) and then travel to Kent to face Netherlands on May 28. Bangladesh's official practice games are against Australia (on 01 June) and Sri Lanka (on 04 June) atNottingham.
Ashraful's men face India on June 6 and Ireland on June 8 at Trent Bridge in the group A matches.
SQUAD
Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal. Zunaed Siddiqui. Rokibul Hassan. Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nayeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mahmudullah Riyad, Rubel Hossain, Shamsur Rahman and Mohammad Mithun.
STAND-BY: Mehrab Hossain, Imrul Kayes, Nazmul Hossain, Mahbubul Alam. Sohrawordi Shuvo.