Bangladesh made one change to their Test squad for the forthcoming tour of India from their historic 2-0 clean sweep over Pakistan, with uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Jaker Ali replacing injured fast bowler Shoriful Islam.
Shoriful failed to play the second and final Test against Pakistan after suffering a groin injury during the first Test.
In the absence of Shoriful, Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud, and Khaled Ahmed make up the Tigers pace attack.
Jaker, who is yet to play a Test and one-day international, has represented Bangladesh in 17 T20Is since making his debut in the Asian Games in 2023.
He has played 49 first-class games and made 2,862 runs at an average of 41.47 with four centuries. The latest of those came in Pakistan last month when he was touring with the Bangladesh A team.
Selector Hannan Sarkar said that it was Shoriful鈥檚 groin injury that kept him out of the side.
鈥楽horiful cannot be said to be fully fit. In Tests, you may have to bowl 15-20 overs,鈥� Hannan told reporters at a press conference in Mirpur on Thursday.
鈥榃e have a T20 series ahead also. Shoriful is important for that format too. As he鈥檚 not fit, we are not taking any risk. We hope that he will recover in time and will be in the T20 team.鈥�
Jaker鈥檚 recent good form, which includes a 174 against Pakistan A in Islamabad, helped his cause, as the selectors felt they needed to the strengthen middle order batting given the Indian conditions.
鈥榃e picked Jaker Ali as a middle-order batter. We considered the conditions and opponents for this decision. We had taken five pacers to Pakistan, but we are taking four to India,鈥� said Hannan.
鈥榃e had taken Dipu [Shahadat Hossain] in place of Shakib or Mushfiq previously. I wouldn鈥檛 say he played really well, but he also didn鈥檛 do badly.
鈥榃e have taken into account recent performance. Dipu played four-day matches in Australia and Pakistan. He isn鈥檛 in rhythm. His form is very important when he is going to play international matches. Dipu is part of our future plans. He is now preparing to play in the NCL.
鈥楯aker can be a useful player in the longer version if you consider his record in domestic first-class cricket. He played a splendid innings in Pakistan recently, batting for a long time. This is what kept Jaker a step ahead.鈥�
Opening batter Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who missed the Pakistan Tests due to a groin niggle suffered during the four-day games between Pakistan A and Bangladesh A in the lead-up to the Test series, retains his place in the squad.
However, Shadman Islam鈥檚 impressive showing in the first Test in Rawalpindi could see him keep his spot at the top alongside Zakir Hasan.
Bangladesh will depart for India on September 15. The first Test begins on September 19 in Chennai, with the second one in Kanpur on September 27. The Test series will be followed by a three-match T20I series.
Though Bangladesh are high on confidence after beating Pakistan, Hannan thinks the challenge will be different this time.
鈥業t鈥檚 going to be challenging. The Pakistan team was far behind us as far as the experiences were concerned. But the Indian squad is quite experienced. The challenge will be different. They are the number one [two] ranked team too鈥�, he said.
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Squad
Najmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Khaled Ahmed, and Jaker Ali Anik.
