Chief selector Gazi Ashraf reveals reason behind Saifuddin's last-minute World Cup snub

Pace-bowling all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin was a notable omission in Bangladesh's T20 World Cup squad announced on Tuesday and according to the team's chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain, fellow quick Tanzim Hasan Sakib was more impressive in terms of "concentration and the desire to contribute". 

Saifuddin was tipped to make the World Cup squad until just a few days ago on the back of his superb form in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and the Dhaka Premier League (DPL). The 27-year-old was part of the preliminary squad sent to the ICC on 1 May as well.

Saifuddin was given a more extended run in the Zimbabwe T20I series than the other seamers. While he was the joint-leading wicket-taker with eight scalps in the series, his death bowling in the latter half of the series was very underwhelming.

"It was a close call. We thought about a couple of things while announcing the team on 30 May. We thought about assessing players who are coming back from injuries, like Saifuddin. We wanted to see how he goes about [his business]. We felt Tanzim was a little bit better, so we picked him over Saifuddin," Ashraf said.

Saifuddin leaked runs at the death in the fifth and final T20I and his reluctance to try the yorker, known to be his strength, raised eyebrows.

Tanzim was expensive (0-42) in his last T20I outing but his commitment to the team impressed the selectors. 

"We saw Tanzim in the Sri Lanka series. His concentration and desire to give it all helped him get the nod ahead of Saifuddin. We looked at Saifuddin [as a death-bowling option] for his ability to nail yorkers.. but he could not quite do that in international cricket what he does domestically. That's why we thought differently," Ashraf stated.