Bangladesh axe Soumya in further T20 overhaul
DHAKA: Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Monday axed top-order batsman Soumya Sarkar and called up three uncapped players in a further shuffle of their squad for the ongoing tri-nation Twenty20 international at home.
Batsmen Mohammad Naim, Aminul Islam, Nazmul Hossain will join the squad for the third and fourth match of the tournament after Bangladesh’s senior players failed to deliver in the first two matches.
Bangladesh were 60-6 in the opening match against Zimbabwe before somehow managing a three-wicket win while failed to recover in Sunday’s second match against Afghanistan after being reduced to 32-4 and lost by 25 runs.
Soumya bore brunt criticism for Bangladesh’s woeful batting performance at top, having scored just four runs in two matches.
“He did not look in a very good form. So we thought better if we could try some new players,” said BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin.
Pacer Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam were also recalled while uncapped Mehedi Hasan and Yeasin Arafat were released from the squad.
Bangladesh will play their next game against Zimbabwe in Chittagong on Wednesday.
The tournament will run until September 24.
The Tigers have been facing criticism after losing the recent Test match against newcomer Afghanistan.
AFGHANISTAN RECORD Afghanistan have created a new record for registering the most consecutive wins in T20 Is.
On Sunday, Afghanistan rode on brilliant performances from Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman as they defeated Bangladesh by 25 runs in the third match of the ongoing tri-series involving Zimbabwe as well.
Batting first, Afghanistan scored 164/6 in 20 overs, thanks to a brilliant 84 from Nabi. In reply, Bangladesh could only manage 139 runs as they bowed down before Rahman who picked up four wickets giving away just 15 runs in his stipulated four-over spell.
It was Afghanistan’s 12th successive victory in the shortest format of the game. Since February 5, 2018, Afghanistan have won all their 12 T20IS played till now. The previous record of registering successive T20I victories was also held by Afghanistan when they had completed 11 T20I wins from March 27, 2016 to March 12, 2017.