Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief selector Minhajul Abedin has clarified the decision to drop veteran all-rounder Mahmudullah Riyad from the 2023 Asia Cup. Abedin revealed that they discussed Mahmudullah’s case in detail before arriving at the decision to drop him from the team. The former T20 captain was one of the most notable omissions from the 17-member team and has not played since the ODI series against England due to bad form. Having been dropped recently, he may be forced to wonder whether he has played his last match for Bangladesh.
Announcing the squad at the Bangladesh Cricket Board ( BCB) headquarters in Mirpur, Abedin was quoted as saying by The Daily Star:
“We had a long discussion regarding Mahmudullah initially. After a long discussion, the team management gave us a plan entailing how they want to approach each teams [in the Asia Cup]. Riyad has been left out after considering all these scenarios.”
He added:
“We thought the planning that the team management gave was obviously good as they have a plan with the head coach regarding how to go about things with the team. We had a proper discussion about everything. We also discussed it with the skipper.
Veteran opener Tamim Iqbal will miss the tournament as he is recovering from a back injury and is in a race to get fit for the ODI series against New Zealand next month. Hence, Tanzeed Hasan Tamim has been called into the team.
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Bangladesh’s 2023 Asia Cup Squad
Shakib Al Hasan (c), Litton Das, Tanzid Tamim, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Sheikh Mahedi, Nasum Ahmed, Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Mohammad Naim.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) named Shakib Al Hasan as the new captain after Tamim stepped down. The all-rounder has already led the national team in 50 ODIs, winning 23 of them. Bangladesh will begin their 2023 Asia Cup campaign against Sri Lanka on August 31 at Pallekele.
