Bangladesh announce squad for New Zealand tour; Shakib Al Hasan granted paternity leave

On Friday, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced the 20-member squad for the upcoming white-ball tour of New Zealand.

The tour features three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and as many T20 Internationals (T20Is), starting from March 20. After the forced changes in the itinerary, Bangladesh will now leave for New Zealand on February 24.

Spinner Taijul Islam has been left out of the squad. He was a part of the recently-concluded series against West Indies but didn’t play a single game. Taijul last played a limited-overs match for Bangladesh back in March 2020 against Zimbabwe.

The selectors have included Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Naim and Al-Amin Hossain in the 20-man squad.

Veteran cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is set to miss the entire NZ tour as his request for paternity leave has been accepted by the apex cricket board.

Further, Shakib will also skip the forthcoming two-Test series versus Sri Lanka in April to make himself available for the fourteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the recently concluded auction, Shakib was bought for INR 3.2 Crore by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

BCB’s cricket operation chairman Akram Khan has confirmed that the board has granted Shakib the leave to play the entire season of IPL.

“He (Shakib) had recently given us a letter [asking] to skip the Test series against Sri Lanka as he wanted to take part in the IPL. We have permitted him as there is no point pushing someone who is not interested in playing (Test for the national team),” Akram told Cricbuzz.

Coming back to the limited-overs fixtures, the three ODIs will be played on March 20, 23 and 26 in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington, respectively. Similarly, the T20Is will take place on March 28, 30 and April 1 in Hamilton, Napier and Auckland, respectively.

Here is Bangladesh’s squad for the NZ tour:

Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Mosaddek Hossain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Mohammad Mithun, Liton Das, Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Mohammad Saifuddin, Rubel Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan.