Bangladesh have left out Imrul Kayes, Taijul Islam and Shafiul Islam from the ODI squad for the first two matches against Pakistan to be played at home. The selectors included uncapped batsman Rony Talukdar and medium-pacer Abul Hasan instead, in the 14-man squad.
Kayes played three matches in the World Cup – against India, New Zealand and England – and produced scores of 5, 2 and 2. Left-arm spinner Taijul played only against New Zealand, with figures of 0 for 58, and Shafiul did not play a single game after he was included in the squad in place of Al-Amin Hossain, who was sent back from Australia for breaking the team curfew.
New face Talukdar was named after being the leading run-scorer in the Dhaka Premier Division, with 714 runs at an average of 51, featuring two hundreds and three fifties. He was also the fourth-highest run-scorer in the National Cricket League this season with 777 runs at an average of 70.63, including three hundreds and a fifty. Abul, on the other hand, has played five ODIs, the last one being against Zimbabwe at home last December.
Pakistan will play three ODIs in Bangladesh, starting on April 17 in Mirpur.
Bangladesh ODI squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Rony Talukdar, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Abul Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Arafat Sunny
