On Friday, soon after the BCB announced the 15-member squad for the forthcoming three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Taijul Islam and Mahedi Hasan shared two different 鈥榗ryptic鈥� posts on their official Facebook pages.聽
The two spinners鈥� posts contained no words but only emojis. There were smileys and hand-clapping emojis on Taijul鈥檚 post, whereas Mahedi only posted the emoji of keeping the mouth shut.聽
The context of these posts was not clear, but the followers found a connection with both of them not finding places in the squad.聽
While Taijul was in the squad for Bangladesh鈥簊 last ODI outing against Sri Lanka in March, Mahedi last played in the 50-over format in the World Cup last year.聽
The spin department of Bangladesh for the Afghanistan series includes Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who is also the vice-captain of the team, young leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, and Nasum Ahmed. There is also Mahmudullah, who bowls occasional off-spin.聽
As Shakib Al Hasan opted out of the Afghanistan series, the selectors picked another left-arm spinner in Nasum who made a comeback after last playing in this format in the last year鈥檚 World Cup.聽
Why the selectors chose Nasum over Taijul, or in this case Mahedi, they didn鈥檛 give any official explanation via a press release or video message.聽
While contacting, one of the selectors, Hannan Sarker, said that if there were any queries, one had to contact the chief selector, Gazi Ashraf Hossain. But the chief selector didn鈥檛 want to give any comment at the moment.聽
Spin is always considered one of the main strengths of Bangladesh in any format. But lately, there have been some chops and changes in this department.聽
Since the start of 2022, 10 spinners have played for Bangladesh who bowled at least 10 overs during that period.聽
Rishad made his debut in that period too, against Sri Lanka in March this year. Though he made quite an impression in the T20s, the first of his ODI series was not that noteworthy as he claimed only one wicket from three outings.聽
But not surprisingly, the selectors have kept faith in him.聽
And with Mehidy becoming the automatic choice in the format, and as Shakib鈥檚 place is almost certain if he becomes available, the third place for the spinner is basically a three-way battle among Taijul, Mahedi, and Nasum.聽
Taijul, often dubbed the red ball specialist, made his ODI debut in 2014, but he played only 20 ODIs in his 10-year career. He has 31 wickets at an average of 25.96.
Mahedi made his ODI debut in 2021, played in two series, and then got dropped. The off-spinner made a comeback in 2023 with the Asia Cup and was selected for the World Cup too.
He played three matches in the marquee tournament, took six wickets at 24.83, and then got dropped again.聽
Nasum, who has played 15 ODIs so far, featured in three World Cup matches last year. The left-armer was wicketless.聽
He was the second highest wicket-taker among the spinners in the last Dhaka Premier League that concluded in May.
Nasum took 24 wickets in the league, while Mahedi took 20.聽
As the Champions Trophy approaches, the selectors need to settle in with whom they will keep the trust apart from the likes of Mehidy and Shakib.聽