The return of Shuvagata Hom and uncapped pace trio included in 21-man preliminary squad for SL tour

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced a 21-man preliminary squad for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour through a press release on Friday. 

All 21 members of the preliminary side will travel to Sri Lanka. 

As the players didn't have enough red-ball practice, the players of the preliminary squad will play an intra-squad match and after that, the final squad will be announced then.

BCB included three uncapped pacers in the squad: Shoriful Islam, Mukidul Islam Mugdho and Shohidul Islam. 

All-rounder Shuvagata Hom Chowdhury has made his return to the side after a while. He has been in good form in the domestic circuit for some time now. 

Minhajul Abedin Nannu, the chief selector of the Bangladesh national team, said that they have decided to take the preliminary squad to Sri Lanka as it would help their preparation and also give exposure to a number of players who are in BCB's thinking for the longer version going forward.

"Mukidul and Shohidul in particular, have caught the eye in domestic first-class this season and are future Test prospects."

"They (Shoriful, Mukidul and Shohidul)  have been in our HP set up and have impressed in whichever version they have played in. Mukidul and Shohidul in particular, have caught the eye in domestic first-class this season and are future Test prospects. They all have age on their side and are talented," Nannu talked about the inclusion of the uncapped pace trio. 

Shakib Al Hasan will miss the Test series as he preferred to play IPL during that period of time. BCB is thinking of Shuvagata Hom as his replacement who is back on the national side after 5 years.

"We have considered him as a batting all-rounder but his off-break is pretty handy also and gives us an option in the spin department."

"Shuvagata is coming back after a while but he has been a consistent performer in first-class cricket. We have considered him as a batting all-rounder but his off-break is pretty handy also and gives us an option in the spin department," Nannu said. 

Bangladesh will travel with a larger squad as the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) informed that it won't give any team or even net bowlers for practice purposes keeping in mind the danger of Covid-19. 

Bangladesh team is touring Sri Lanka for the first time since 2017 when they beat they hosts on their 100th Test match.

The Bangladesh team will leave Dhaka on 12 April for a two-Test series. 

The two Tests will be held at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium where Bangladesh had never played a Test match. The first of the two Tests will start on April 21 with the second one beginning on April 29.

PRELIMINARY SQUAD

Mominul Haque, Litton Kumar Das, Md Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal Khan, Shadman Islam, Abu Jayed Chowdhury Rahi, Taijul Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Nayeem Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Mohammed Saif Hassan, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Shoriful Islam, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Mukidul Islam Mugdho, Shuvagata Hom Chowdhury, Shohidul Islam, Quazi Nurul Hasan Sohan.