FORMER captain Mohammad Ashraful has been dropped from Bangladesh’s 14-man one-day international squad to play New Zealand next month.
The right-handed batsman – who has played 163 ODIs for his country – has had a patchy run of late in the 50-over format, averaging just 17 in his last five innings.
Tamim Iqbal is the second notable absentee from the squad that is due to play five matches starting from October 5 in Dhaka.
One of Bangladesh’s star performers during their tour of England, Tamim – who recently underwent wrist surgery – will be replaced by left-handed opener Shahriar Nafees, who returns to the national fold after a two-year absence.
All-rounders Naeem Islam and Sohrawordi Shuvo have also been recalled, while pacemen Nazmul Hossain and Syed Rasel have been dropped.
Bangladesh chief selector Rafiqul Alam was quoted in the Bangladesh Daily Star as saying: “It’s not possible to replace Tamim with any other batsman because he is a heavyweight performer at the moment.
“We will definitely miss the services of Tamim in the series, but Nafees was the best option for us as a specialist opener. He (Nafees) has been training hard and looked good and he has proved his ability in the past.
“Ashraful was struggling with his batting and that’s why we dropped him. But we kept him in the reserve players’ list because he should continue his training with the national team.
“Ashraful is a very important player for us. We hope he will get back his rhythm before the World Cup.”
Bangladesh squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Shakib Al Hasan (vice-captain), Shahriar Nafees, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Raqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mahmudullah, Jahurul Islam, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Sohrawordi Shuvo. (Eurosport)