Bangladesh Cricket Board on Thursday announced Najmul Hossain will lead the teams in both white-ball series during their upcoming New Zealand tour as they named two separate squads for one-day and T20I series.
BCB kept their trust in Najmul for the away white-ball series despite the return of Litton Das in both series while all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz was named as deputy of Najmul in both formats.
“We are trying to have a new cross-format captain and that is the reason we have appointed Najmul to lead in both ODIs and T20s against New Zealand,” BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin told Cricbuzz on Thursday.
“He (Najmul) will get matured with passing days but we are impressed with the way he had led the side in the three ODIs and against New Zealand in the ongoing Test match,” he said.
11 members of the recently-concluded World Cup squad retained their place in the ODI squad that also saw the return of Afif Hossain and Soumya Sarkar in ODI fold while leg spinner Rishad Hossain and left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan got maiden call in the 50-over format.
“We have picked Soumya as he got the experience of playing New Zealand and that is the same for Afif as well while we picked Rishad and Rakibul as they were under our radar for long time,” said the chief selector.
Regular skipper Shakib Al Hasan will miss the tour due to his national election engagement while Mahmudullah and Taskin Ahmed due to their respective injuries.
Minhajul added that Mahedi Hasan and Nasum Ahmed, who were part of Bangladesh squad for the just concluded ODI World Cup, were not picked due to their performance in the showpiece event.
Meanwhile, Soumya also made a return to the T20I fold after the last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia while Tanvir Islam and Tanzim Hasan Sakib were also picked for the shortest format.
Nasum, who played both T20Is against Afghanistan in Sylhet in July, was surprisingly dropped from the 15-member T20I side as well.
The ODIs are scheduled on December 17, 20 and 23 respectively while the T20Is will be held on December 27, 29 and 31 respectively.
Bangladesh squad (ODI Series): Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Tawhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Afif Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vice-capt), Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Hasan Mahmud, Rishad Hossain and Rakibul Hasan
Bangladesh squad (T20I Series): Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Liton Das, Rony Talukdar, Tawhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Soumya Sarkar, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vice-capt), Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Rishad Hossain, Tanvir Islam and Tanzim Hasan Sakib
