Bangladesh announce 21-member preliminary squad for Sri Lanka tour

Bangladesh Cricket Board, on Friday (April 9) announced their 21-man preliminary squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. The Tigers have included three uncapped pacers Mukidul Islam, Shahidul Islam and Shoriful Islam in the squad while also recalling Nurul Hasan, Shuvagoto Hom and Khaled Ahmed. The BCB have included the uncapped bowlers in the squad since Sri Lanka will not provide any net bowlers.

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There are also some notable absentees in the squad. Mustafizur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar and Hasan Mahmud have been excluded from the squad. They were part of the Bangladesh squad that played the two-match Test series against West Indies earlier this year. Veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will also not play in the series after opting out of it in order to play in IPL.

"We have formed an extended squad as we will not have net bowlers while we will also play an intra-squad practice match. We will announce the Test squad after the practice game, and the cricketers failing to make a spot in the Test squad will return home in due time," BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin told Cricbuzz.

The two-match Test series will get underway on April 21. The second Test will be played from April 29. Both the games will be played in Pallekele. Prior to the series, the visitors will play a two-day intra-squad warm-up game which is scheduled on April 17-18 at CMC, Katunayake.

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Bangladesh Test squad: Mominul Haque (c), Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Khan, Shadman Islam, Abu Jayed, Taijul Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Nayeem Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Mohammad Hasan, Yasir Ali, Shoriful Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Mukidul Islam, Shuvagata Hom, Shahidul Islam, Nurul Hasan.