DHAKA, Oct 28, 2019 (BSS)- Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will announce its Twenty20 squad tomorrow afresh as they have to make some adjustments at the eleventh hour following the withdrawal of some key players.
BCB earlier announced a 15-member Twenty20 squad on October 17 but both Mohammad Saifuddin and Tamim Iqbal were ruled out of the series because of personal reasons.
The national team will leave the country on Wednesday for New Delhi to play a three-match T20 series and two-match Test series against India.
While Tamim Iqbal opted out the tour due to his family affairs and Saifuddin sustained injury, skipper Shakib Al Hasan’s participation remains in dark, leaving the BCB at an uncomfortable position.
Earlier, BCB Cricket Operations chairman Akram Khan on Monday had said that there is no uncertainty over Shakib’s participation in the tour.
Sakib skipped both the practice matches for consecutive days which triggered speculation regarding his participation in the forthcoming bilateral series against India.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan Papon added some excitement in the speculation by saying that he was not sure whether Shakib is going to India for the series.
Akram Khan said that they didn’t know anything regarding Shakib’s not participating in the series. “We didn’t receive any official [statement] regarding Shakib,” Akram Khan said here today.
“I don’t think there is any uncertainty [about Sakib’s participation in India series]. We have heard from you [journalists] and some are saying he is going and some are saying he is not. But we can tell about Shakib’s participation tomorrow,” Akram also said.
“Shakib skipped two practice sessions [matches] after taking permission from the coach [Russell Domingo]. Because of that he didn’t play yesterday’s [Sunday] match. We will give you the details tomorrow,” he said.
“We didn’t have any communication with him [Shakib]. He might have spoken to the coach. I don’t know whether he has any communication with the president,” he added.
“We will make some changes as there are few issues like Tamim’s non- availability for the India tour….we didn’t cancel the previous squad. There will be some changes,” Akram, also the former Bangladesh skipper said.
He said that they would talk with the cricketers and the coaching staff about the invitation of playing a day-night Test in India and they would only decide about the matter after getting consent from them.
However, he was not sure whether they would agree to play a day-night Test as they didn’t play any day-night matches in the recent past.
“We were approached to play a pink-ball Test match. We will discuss the matter with our players and the coaching staff after the practice match. We want to hear from them whether they are interested in playing such matches,” he said.
“The players and coaches will decide about the pink-ball. We haven’t played any matches and also didn’t practice [in pink ball]. Their opinion is important,” he concluded.