Bangladesh call up young opener Tanzid for Asia Cup

DHAKA (AFP): Bangladesh called up young opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim on Saturday to their 17-member squad for the Asia Cup one-day international tournament beginning later this month.

Left-handed Tamim was a member of the Bangladesh team that won the 2020 Under-19 World Cup in South Africa and has since been groomed as a new prospect by the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

The 22-year-old scored 179 runs in four matches of July’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, with three half-centuries and a strike rate of 117.

“Our national selection panel is very confident about Tanzid,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin told reporters.

“Hopefully, he is waiting to give the country something very good.”

Tamim takes the place of former captain Tamim Iqbal, who pulled out of the Asia Cup due to injury.

The Bangladeshi selectors also picked up lower-order batsman Shamim Hossain, who played 17 Twenty20 internationals for Bangladesh but has yet to make his ODI debut.

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam has been dropped from the squad with Minhajul saying the “more defensive” Nasum Ahmed was preferred for the flat wickets expected in the Asia Cup.

Minhajul said Bangladesh’s squad for the World Cup in India in October would not necessarily match the Asia Cup squad.

“We will have until September 5 to think of our World Cup squad. Until then, our concern is only the Asia Cup,” he said.

Bangladesh will play alongside Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in Group B of the Asia Cup, which starts on August 30.

All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will return as ODI captain.

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Liton Das, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Mohammad Naim.