Bangladesh has announced changes to their T20I squad for the first two matches against England this month. Rony Talukdar returns after eight years, Shamim Hossain makes a comeback after two years, while Towhid Hridoy, Rejaur Rahman, and Tanvir Islam have received their maiden call-ups to Bangladesh's T20I squad.
All five new inclusions had impressive performances in this season's Bangladesh Premier League. Talukdar, who had only played one international T20I match against South Africa in 2015, emerged as the second-highest run-scorer in this year's BPL with 425 runs at a strike-rate of 129.17. Towhid, who made the ODI squad after scoring 403 runs at a strike-rate of 140 in the BPL, was the tournament's third highest run-scorer.
Shamim made only 175 runs with a strike rate of 135.65, but his 71 for the Rangpur Riders in the BPL eliminator helped him earn a recall. He was long considered a future T20 hitter for Bangladesh, and the selectors have shown a little more patience with him this time.
Left-arm spinner Tanvir was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the BPL, taking 17 wickets at an average of 17.58, which helped Comilla Victorians win their fourth BPL title. Rejaur took 13 wickets at 19.84 apiece.
Yasir Ali, Ebadot Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Shoriful Islam, and Soumya Sarkar, who were all part of the squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia last year, were left out of the T20I squad. Yasir, Mosaddek, and Soumya didn't make major contributions in the BPL, while Ebadot and Shoriful didn't play enough in the tournament to merit selection.
The Bangladesh squad for the first two T20Is against England includes Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nasum Ahmed, Nurul Hasan, Shamim Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Towhid Hridoy, Rejaur Rahman, and Tanvir Islam. The matches are scheduled to take place in Chattogram (March 9) and Mirpur (March 12 and 14) after the ongoing ODI series.
