Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal returned to the Test fold as Bangladesh Cricket Board announced a 14-member squad for the one-off Test series on Saturday.
The tour concluding Test is scheduled at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur from April 4-8. Bangladesh clinched the ODI series by cleanly sweeping away the visitors while they also clinched the three-match T20I series by a 2-1 margin.
Opener Shadman, who featured for Bangladesh in a Test match against South Africa in April 2022, also made a return to the squad while pace bowlers Ebadot Hossain and Shoriful Islam are also included in the squad, who were injured earlier.
“The return of Tamim will surely bolster our strength while we have also included Shadman considering his recent form,” BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin told The Daily Sun on Saturday.
“He (Shadman) is among, who scored runs in the domestic circuit following his lean patch,” he said.
Minhajul added that they are disappointed as opener Zakir Hasan, who made a mark in the last Test series against India, missed out due to injury.
“Zakir fractured his finger and that is the reason we could not include him in the squad and it is quite disappointing considering the fact he played well against India,” said the selector adding that they have dropped Yasir Ali due to his form.
Pace bowler Rejaur Rahman Raja and spinner Nasum Ahmed failed to retain their place in the Test squad.
BCB also included Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das in the squad despite all the drama that surrounded them following their plea to the board that they want to skip the Test series to make them available for Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
In the recent past it was reported in the media that Shakib will leave for IPL on April 3 though the board always insisted that the duo will be available for IPL only during the time frame that they have slotted before they were picked in the auction.
BCB earlier informed the BCCI that Shakib and Liton are available for the IPL from April 8 to May 1.
