Mushfiqur, Liton return as Bangladesh announces squad for NZ T20Is

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday announced the squad for the five-match T20I home series against New Zealand starting from 1 September, reports UNB.

The national selectors included Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das and Aminul Islam in this squad, who were not a part of the squad that faced Australia recently.

Mohammad Mithun, however, has been overlooked this time. He was a part of the Bangladesh team in the last series but failed to shine with the bat what eventually cost him his place in the squad.

Mushfiqur missed the Australia series due to failing to start a quarantine period on time, while Liton was out due to family reasons. Aminul Islam, the legspinner, was out of action due to an injury.

All the matches of this series will take place at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at 4:00pm on 1, 4, 5, 8 and 10 September.

New Zealand have also announced the squad for the Bangladesh tour, which did not include any member of their T20 World Cup squad.

Meanwhile, New Zealand went into a countrywide recently after a new Covid-19 case was recorded. Despite this, BCB is hopeful to host the Blackcaps.

"The series is very much on," BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury told the media recently. "We just spoke with the CEO of NZC and there is no uncertainty regarding the upcoming home series against them."

Bangladesh squad: Mahmudullah Riyad (Captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Afif Hossain, Mohammad Naim, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shamim Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shoriful Islam, Taijul Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam Biplob, Nasum Ahmed