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No changes needed, strength within the squad


Published : 22 May 2019 02:23 PM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 05:34 AM

There will be no changes to the 15-man provisional World Cup squad Bang­ladesh had annou­nced over a month ago, with Min­hajul Abedin, the chief selector, saying that the performances in the Ireland tri-series, which Bangladesh won, had convinced the selectors that the squad was the right one.

"There is much confidence on and within the 15-member squad currently in England," Abedin, who was also the team manager during the tri-series, told ESPNcricinfo. "Everyone in the squad has shown that they are capable of performing at the highest stage, which is why we selected them in the first place."

The question marks were mainly over Abu Jayed and Mosaddek Hossain, but both passed with flying colours. Mosaddek's quickfire half-century against West Indies in the final helped Bangladesh 

clinch their first multi-team ODI trophy, while Jayed took 5 for 

58 against Ireland in an earlier game.

Liton Das and Rubel Hossain, also not considered automatic starters at the World Cup, also did enough in their limited opportunities during the tri-series to stay in the squad. 

Liton hit a 67-ball 76 against Ireland in his only outing, while Rubel picked up 1 for 41 in the same game.

Four reserve players - Taskin Ahmed, Farhad Reza, Nayeem Hasan and Yasir Ali - had travelled to Ireland for the tri-series, but will now continue training in Dhaka along with the two other standby players - Imrul Kayes and Taijul Islam - in preparation for the July series against Afghanistan A, who will play two four-day and five one-day games.

Most of Bangladesh's World Cup squad is now training in Leicester before the squad - including captain Mashrafe Mortaza and Tamim Iqbal, who were given a break - head to Cardiff for their two warm-

up games against Pakistan 

and India on May 26 and 28 respectively.

Bangladesh head coach, Steve Rodes on Tuesday said that the team's recent success in the Tri-nation series proves that the team is stronger within the squad and there's more to the side than just their big five players.

"There have been two or three guys who have played special innings. If you think of Mosaddek, for example, he is a guy now who is going to keep everybody on their toes. That's the depth of the squad and he might not play, and if he doesn't, then what a great position we have. 

It gives us the confidence that we can win some big games as well," International Cricket Council (ICC) quoted Rhodes as saying.

"That means Bangladesh is stronger within the squad, and that's what we want as we want more depth, and if we get that depth, then people will stop talking about the big five," he added.

Rhodes praised Sarkar's consistency over the past few months and hopes that people will now get off his back.

"He has been a revelation since he hit that hundred and double-hundred in the DPL [Dhaka Premier League, Bangladesh's premier List A competition, but he also gets some rough days from people," Rhodes said.

"So it's just nice to see him carrying on that form, and I hope people would get off his back a little bit because he is a wonderful player. We support him and back him. But not everyone always does that," he added.

Bangladesh after winning the Tri-nation series, will now look to carry this winning momentum in the upcoming World Cup.

World Cup is scheduled to be hosted in England from May 30 to July 14. Bangladesh will play against Pakistan and India in the warm-ups before opening its World Cup campaign against South Africa on June 2 at The Oval.

Squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Saifuddin, Abu Jayed, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain.