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All eyes on Mashrafe

Sports Reporter
The focus will be on Mashrafe Bin Mortaza when the selected cricketers for the upcoming tri-nation one-day series play a limited-over game at the Shcr-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.
The pace spearhead, who has been out of action since last July after he had suffered a knee injury during the first Test in West Indies and had operations on both his knees again in Australia, has been retained as captain for the coming tournament also involving India and Sri Lanka. The tri-nation competition will kick off with the match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on January 4 at Mirpur.
Country's leading pacer has been recovering well and practicing with the preliminary squad but only after the practice match will it be determined whether he can lead the team in the tournament.
Though it was told after the last board meeting that the national cricketers will play the day-night match, which will start at 2.30pm, against Premier League champions Mohammedan, the BCB officials confirmed that the 26-member squad will play the match
split into two groups.
Injury is a big issue for the Rafiqul Alam-led selection panel before finalising the team as left-handed opener Tamim Iqbal, wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim and ICL-returnee Aftab Ahmed are yet to hundred percent fit besides Mashrafe.
"We have a number of injury problems and we are looking forward to seeing how Mashrafe responds in the practice match. Tamim is yet to fully recover from his injury while Mushfiqur kept wicket only in two games and Aftab has yet to recover from a hamstring injury. So, injury is an issue and ultimately everything will depend on the reports of our national physio," said chief selector Rafiqul yesterday.
After a successful year in which the Tigers won a number of games in 2009 albeit against the weak opponents, Jamie Siddon's charges are going to start the new year with a big challenge against two inform opponents with opening as another major headache for the team.
Zunaed Siddiqui is out of form while Tamim is not sure and in this context there is a good chance for an ICL-returnee to be reinstated into the side.
"We have a problem in the top order and we have to solve it,” said Rafiqul when asked about the chance of the ICL-returnees for the tournament
SEE PAGE 16 COL 3
FROM PAGE 17
Opener Shahriar Nafees, middle order batsman Aftab Ahmed, all-rounder Alok Kapali and wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh, the players who had signed up for the unapproved Indian Cricket League (ICL) in September have received call-ups in the 26-member preliminary squad on December 12,