Uncapped pacer Abu Jayed Rahi makes Bangladesh 2019 World Cup squad
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced their 15-man ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 squad, to be captained by Mashrafe Mortaza with Shakib Al Hasan to serve as deputy skipper, and Expat Sport runs through both the line-up and underpinning logic.
Uncapped pacer Abu Jayed Rahi was the surprise call up to the Bangladesh side, as was another selectors’ pick, middle-order batsman Mosaddek Hossain making a dramatic comeback. Jayed, who is yet to make his debut in ODIs, produced impressive spells of swing bowling during the Tests in New Zealand last month while Hossain, last played for Bangladesh in the Asia Cup back in September 2018.
From an observers perspective the core of the Bangladesh team in terms of senior players under the leadership of Mashrafe bin Murtaza appears to be pretty much the same settled unit of the past few years. Announcing the squad at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, chief selector Minhajul Abedin and his co selector Habibul Bashar were at pains to emphasise that this was the team for the big occasion.
Bangladesh, who reached the quarter-finals in the previous tournament in 2015, will open their campaign against South Africa at The Oval in South London, home of Surrey County Cricket Club on the 2nd of June.
Bangladesh squad published for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019:
Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed.
Having also named Shakib Al Hasan in their World Cup squad as vice-captain the Bangladesh C.B. went into automatic protective mode requesting that he return “immediately” from the Indian Premier League (IPL) in writing. The 32-year-old all-rounder had already been out of action during the 3-0 one-day series defeat in New Zealand back in February as the result of a broken finger. In fact he has played in only one of Sunrisers Hyderabad, his IPL franchise’s seven games this season, on 24 March.
Bangladesh cricket board president Nazmul Hassan, keen to get the Bangladesh pre-World Cup camp underway was obviously intent on a ‘country-first’ policy as he made his observations on the communication.
“Our camp is beginning I have asked to send a letter to Shakib immediately to come back. Let’s see how he responds to this.”
Shakib, is The Tigers second highest ranked all-rounder in Test, one-day and Twenty20 cricket, he has scored 5,638 runs at a batting average of 35.45 and taken 248 wickets at 29.70 apiece in 196 one-day internationals.
Chief selector Minhajul continued to talk with media following the announcement press conference in Mirpur:
“As the World Cup will be played in England and Wales, so we have focused on experience. Conditions will be challenging there. But we have played well in the Champions Trophy two years ago. We have prepared our team considering that experience.
“Abu Jayed got his chance in Test matches in New Zealand. We have observed that he bowled there with significant swing. The World Cup will be in English conditions and there will be cold temperatures in May-June period, and also we will play a tri-nation series in Ireland before the tournament. In that sense we have preferred a swing bowler among our pace department. That’s why we have chosen Abu Jayed.
“Yasir Ali and Mosaddek were considered in the batting options as both of them are in good form recently but eventually Mosaddek was picked due to his spin bowling options.
“We wanted an all-rounder who can bowl off-spin. Because Mahmudullah is slightly suffering with a shoulder injury, so he may not bowl in matches. That’s why we wanted a back-up off spinner in the squad and thus we have selected Mosaddek in the end,” Minhazul concluded.
Bangladesh World Cup squad current stats:
Specialist-Batsmen:
Tamim Iqbal (Opening left-hand batsman 190 ODIs Batting average 36.33 Highest Score 154), Soumya Sarkar (Middle-order left-hand batsman 42 ODIs Batting average 35.44 Highest Score 127 not out), Mohammad Mithun (Top-order right-hand batsman 16 ODIs, Batting average 32.72 Highest Score 63), Mosaddek Hossain (Middle-order right-hand batsman 24 ODIs Batting average 31.00 Highest Score 50 not out)
All-rounders:
Mahmudullah (Right-hand batsman, 172 ODIs Batting average 33.39 Highest Score 128 not out: Right-arm offbreak 76 wickets, Best bowling figures 3 for 4), Shakib Al Hasan (Left-hand batsman, 196 ODIs Batting average 35.45 Highest Score 134 not out: Slow left-arm orthodox 248 wickets, Best bowling figures 5 for 47), Mohammad Saifuddin (Left-hand batsman, 11 ODIs Batting average 29.16 Highest Score 50: Right-arm medium-fast 9 wickets, Best bowling figures 3 for 45), Mehidy Hasan (Right-hand batsman, 26 ODIs Batting average 20.78 Highest Score 51: Right-arm offbreak 27 wickets, Best bowling figures 4 for 29).
Mushfiqur Rahim (Wicketkeeper-right-hand batsman 202 ODIs Batting average 34.76 Highest Score 144), Liton Das (Wicketkeeper-right-hand batsman 27 ODIs Batting average 19.53 Highest Score 121)
Specialist-Bowlers:
Mashrafe Mortaza (Captain: Right-arm fast-medium 206 ODIs 262 wickets Best bowling figures 6 for 26), Rubel Hossain (Right-arm fast 96 ODIs 122 wickets Best bowling figures 6 for 26), Mustafizur Rahman (Left-arm fast-medium 44 ODIs 79 wickets Best bowling figures 6 for 43), Abu Jayed (Right-arm fast-medium 5 Tests 11 wickets Best bowling figures 3 for 28)
In addition, the BCB also announced a 17-man squad for the tri-nation series in Ireland to be played in May ahead of the World Cup. The Board’s president reiterated that further changes to the World Cup squad were permitted up until May the 23rd, and the board would finalise the squad upon completion of the Ireland series. Batsman Yasir Ali and spinner Naeem Hasan were added to the existing members the 15-man World Cup squad. Should they perform well in the tri-nation series, then the pair get a chance to stake their claim on a place in that final World Cup side.
While Bangladesh’s selectors have maintained the core of experienced achievers, they have also taken some chances with new boys. Not necessarily a bad thing but subject to some criticism on social media from fans who say that some of those left out are better than those included.
Pretty much always the way I guess, however there are those that say that a tournament as important as the World Cup is not the stage upon which you should experiment with raw unseasoned new talent. There is after all the head aspect to assess more than mere outstanding skill and lightning hand-eye coordination, a temperament under fire from the best in the world can crumble, and three of The Tigers are preparing to step out with just 16, 11 and zero ODIs under their belts respectively. Nonetheless, given Bangladesh’s determinedly accomplished core of veterans they are most certainly ‘in it – to win it’ like all the others and could well progress in the competition.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, in England and Wales, will run from 30th of May until 14 July. Shortly before it commences, Bangladesh are slated to play two practice matches against Pakistan May 26th and India on May 28th.
Expat Sport’s Mac McTiernan explores the composition, merits, experience and performance statistics of the Bangladesh selectors’ chosen squad as The Tigers head into the World Cup.
