Bangladesh drop Mehedi Hasan and Tanbir Hayder for first T20I

Bangladesh drop Mehedi Hasan and Tanbir Hayder for first T20I

Bangladesh have dropped Mehedi Hasan and Tanbir Hayder from their 15-man squad for the first Twenty20 International against New Zealand in Napier on January 3. While Mehedi didn't play a single game in the One-Day International series that the visitors lost 3-0, Tanbir made his debut in the second ODI and went on to play the final ODI as well, going wicketless in both.

The selectors have also included Shuvagata Hom and Taijul Islam in the squad. Opener Soumya Sarkar, who was dropped for the second and third ODIs, after scoring just 1 in the first game, has retained his spot for the T20I series. Seamer Rubel Hossain could finally get his first game on the tour after being ignored for the ODI matches.

The selectors could make some changes for the second and third T20Is since the touring party still consists of all players from the preliminary camp that was present in Australia, including the injured Mushfiqur Rahim.

Squad for the first T20I: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shuvagata Hom, Subashis Roy, Taijul Islam, Nurul Hasan (wk).