Bangladesh announce preliminary squad for Australia and South Africa series

Bangladesh have announced a 29-man preliminary squad for the home series against Australia and the tour of South Africa. The squad comprises of players for the limited overs’ games as well as the Test matches, including a healthy mix of experience and youth.

The Tigers have taken real strides in recent years, completing their first Test win over a major Test-playing nation, England, as well as making it to the Champions Trophy semi-finals. Their home tour versus Australia will be a key stepping stone in their development.

Australia’s tour of Bangladesh starts with a practice game on the 22nd of August, leading up to two Tests, starting at Dhaka and Chittagong on the 27th of August and 4th of September respectively.

The tour of South Africa is more elaborate, comprising of two Tests, beginning at Bloemfontein on the 6th of September and Potchefstroom on the 28th of September. The Tests are followed by three ODIs, at Kimberly, Paarl and East London on the 15th, 18th and 22nd of October respectively. Lastly, there are two T20Is, played at Bloemfontein and Potchefstroom, on the 26th and 29th of October.

This squad is a strong one. And the people of Bangladesh should have real hopes of beating Australia in what should be a cracking series. The South African tour, on the other hand, will be a good test as to how they play overseas, after what was a mixed Test series against New Zealand.

The venues chosen suggest that the Proteas are treating it somewhat as a second-string Test series, and could field under-strength teams for the limited-overs’ series, giving Bangladesh an outside chance of upsetting South Africa.

Bangladesh’s preliminary squad:

Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (test captain, wk), Shakib Al Hasan (T20i captain), Sabbir Rahman, Mashrafe Mortaza (ODI captain), Mahmudullah Riyad, Liton Das (wk), Mominul Haque, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Subhashish Roy, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Rubel Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Sanjamul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Anamul Haque, Abul Hasan Raju, Al Amin Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Muktar Ali, Tanbir Haider, Saqlain Sajib, Shafiul Islam.