Middle-order batter Soumya Sarkar and left-arm pace bowler Shoriful Islam have been included in Bangladesh's 15-member squad ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia following their success in the recently-concluded Tri-series here.
The duo replaces Sabbir Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin. Shoriful was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the series in UAE and would add more left-arm pace options for Bangladesh, while Sarkar adds an all-rounder bowling option and top-order batting strength.
Both Shoriful and Sarkar were initially named in the reserves for the T20 World Cup. However, Saifuddin and Sabbir failed to show form in the UAE series and in New Zealand in the Tri-series, forcing the team to make changes to the squad.
Bangladesh bowling coach Allan Donald had hinted at possible changes to the squad a few days back."I think there might be a chance that the squad could be changed and that is probably why they brought two extra guys, we have that time, don't we?
We have a few more days to sort that out before we depart for Australia," Donald was quoted as saying by ICC."(Sridharan) Sriram is looking at a lot of combinations where he feels he needs to be accurate, have one more last look and see what he needs to do and find the right people to go and do their job.
So it's never an easy thing."Trust me, as a coach sitting up there you are never sure what is the right combination."Shoriful played three of the four matches in the tri-series in New Zealand while Sarkar was also involved in two of them.
Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Nurul Hasan, Afif Hossain, Ebadot Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Litton Das, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shoriful Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Musaddek Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Yasir Ali Chowdhury.
Stand-by players: Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin.