Surprise in Bangladesh WC squad

Bangladesh have announced the squad they are taking to the World Cup in the Caribbean later next month. Former captain Khaled Mashud was left out of the side after missing the recent tour of Zimbabwe due to a thumb injury.

“We have dropped Mashud for poor batting performance, though he is still the best wicketkeeper in the country,” said the head of selectors, Faruk Ahmed.

“We think Mushfiqur Rahim is the better batsman than Mashud now.”

Mehrab Hossain jnr, Tushar Imran and Mohammad Sharif were other notables left out of the 15 man squad at the expense of Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh and Syed Rasel who were all recalled back into the side.

Captain Habibul Bashar said things would be different since the last time his side competed in the World Cup four years ago.

“I was a member of the World Cup team four years back and then we had hardly any ambition rather than playing good cricket,” he said.

“The scenario is totally changed now after we have already won a number of matches in the recent past.

“We are going to the World Cup with lot of confidence this time, especially after the away series victory and definitely our target is to make a second round berth.”

Bangladesh squad: Habibul Bashar (capt), Shariar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Saqibul Al Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Tapash Baishya, Syed Rasel, Rajin Saleh, Javed Omar.