Shakib Al Hasan to lead Bangladesh in Nidahas Trophy under head coach Courtney Walsh
Bangladesh has announced their squad for the Nidahas T20 Tri-series trophy and has named Shakib Al Hasan as the captain of the side. They have also announced Courtney Walsh as their head coach for the Tri-series involving India and Sri Lanka scheduled to start from March 6 in Colombo.
With Mashrafe Mortaza deciding to retire from the shortest format, Bangladesh Cricket Board has tried hard and convinced their ODI captain, Shakib, to reconsider his retirement and make a comeback to the T20 squad. Shakib had previously missed the Tri-series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka due to a finger injury also missed the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.
With Mortaza refusing to come out of retirement for the T20I, BCB convinced Shakib to take up the captaincy but has also confirmed that he would miss the first two games of the Nidahas Trophy. BCB president Nazmul Hasan has admitted that there is no guarantee when he
"He might be available for one or two matches. There is no problem when he bowls but the finger gets sore when he bats and probably he will not be available for the opening matches,” said Nazmul, reported Cricbuzz.
Bangladesh included Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Nurul Hasan and Mehidy Hasan in place of Mohammad Saifuddin, Zakir Hasan, Atif Hossain and Mohammad Mithun for the series. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin asserted that their selection of players was done taking into consideration the pitches and conditions in Sri Lanka.
"We have included some experienced campaigners. As it is expected pacers will play a part so we picked Imrul considering his international experience. As the matches will be played in Premadasa we needed someone who can bowl fast and Taskin returned fulfilling the criterion," he added.
Courtney Walsh, who was the current bowling coach has been handed the head coach’s job as Richard Halsall’s availability for the tournament still remained unclear. Walsh took over on an interim basis and Khaled Mahmud - the former Bangladesh all-rounder, who performed the role of technical director returns back to his usual post of team manager of the Tigers.
Bangladesh Squad : Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mahmudullah, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Abu Jayed, Taskin Ahmed, Imrul Kayes, Nurul Hasan, Mehidy Hasan, Ariful Haque, Nazmul Islam, Abu Haider Rony