IND vs BAN | Bangladesh recall Arafat Sunny and Al-Amin Hossain for T20s

Bangladesh has recalled left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny and pace bowler Al-Amin Hossain while fast bowler Rubel Hossain has been omitted in their 15-member squad for the upcoming three-match Twenty20 International series in India. The inclusion of both of them was nothing short of surprising as they had fallen off the selectors' radar quite some time ago. But the selectors have their strong reasons to recall Arafat and Amin.

"We have picked Arafat as he is bowling quite consistently in the domestic arena. We already have Shakib [Al Hassan] but we need someone who has the experience of playing the shorter format,'' Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief selector Minhajul Abedin was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz after the board released the squad.

"Al Amin was picked as we have seen there is some grass on the Indian wickets. In the recent past, he had improved his fitness to quite an extent and he is one of the few bowlers who can bowl with the seam up and we have seen that pacers who are bowling with the seam up are quite successful in India." Abedin added.

From their previous squad, BCB have excluded Taijul Islam, Sabbir Rahman, and Nazmul Hossain while also handing a comeback opportunity for Soumya Sarkar in the shortest format which Abedin revealed was due to the insistence of the coach.

Bangladesh is due to play a three-match T20I series in India, with the opener scheduled for November 3 in national capital Delhi. The action moves to Rajkot for the second match on November 7 and concludes in Nagpur with the third and final fixture on November 10. A two-Test series will follow the three T20Is between Bangladesh and India, the squad for which will be announced in due course.

Bangladesh T20I squad: Shakib Al Hasan (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Aminul Islam, Arafat Sunny, Mohammad Saifuddin, Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam.