A Bangladesh Cricket Board official said on Tuesday that Shakib Al Hasan is unlikely to be available for all the games of the upcoming five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, scheduled on 3-12 May.
The BCB on Tuesday announced a 17-member squad for a preparation camp of the Zimbabwe series, scheduled on 26-28 April, without two of their star cricketers Shakib and Mustafizur Rahman.
Shakib is currently in USA while Mustafizur is currently busy playing for Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing Indian Premier League. The latter is expected to return to Bangladesh on May 2 ahead of the Zimbabwe series.
Gazi Ashraf Hossain, convenor of the national selection panel, told reporters that Shakib is expected to return by the end of this month and he is likely to play a couple of Super League games of the ongoing Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, the country’s traditional list A tournament, for Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Cricket Club.
It is learnt that Shakib wanted to play these domestic matches in order to prepare fully to take the load of international cricket.
“We have communicated with him (Shakib) and the outcome is that he is expected to come at the end of this month. There is a possibility that he will play DPL in one or two games. Later, he will get involved with the team. He can do some practice over cricketing skills as per his and the team management’s desire. We definitely want him (against Zimbabwe) and as there are five T20 matches, he can play a couple of games in the end,” Ashraf told reporters at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
“We will give the team (for the Zimbabwe series) on 28 April and by that time, you will get a clear picture of how many matches he is available and not available,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ashraf said that Mustafizur will miss the opening game of the Zimbabwe series.
“Mustafizur will not be available in the first game. He will come and go through screening of our medical team and later, we will try to understand where he stands,” said Ashraf.
Ashraf also said that they will wait till the last minute for Soumya Sarkar as they included him despite his recovering fully. Soumya sustained an injury during the ODI series against Sri Lanka and failed to return to competitive cricket since then.
“Soumya Sarkar is not totally fit and he is trying to come back from injury. We will have a close look at him through our strength and conditioning coach. We want him to be part of the team and participate in the tactical discussion,” said Ashraf.
“We need to give the ICC the team by May 1 (for the T20 World Cup) unless it is extended. But it’s not like that it will be our final World Cup team. There will be a lot of things like injuries and other things but that team will be close to the World Cup team,” he concluded.
Squad for Preparation Camp Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Liton Das, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Tawhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali Anik, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Parvez Hossain Emon, Tanvir Islam, Afif Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Mohammad Saifuddin and Soumya Sarkar
