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Published : 23 Jun 2025, 01:39 PM
Mohammad Naim Sheikh is getting his reward for his consistent performances in domestic cricket as the left-handed opener is returning to the national side after nearly two years. Litton Das, left off the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament due to his poor performances, is getting his spot back as well.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board announced the 16-member squad for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka on Monday. It is the first time the Tigers will be captained by Mehidy Hasan Miraz in a regular series.
In addition to Naim and Litton, Shamim Hossain and Hasan Mahmud are also returning to the squad while left-armed spinner Tanvir Islam is making his debut in the ODI format.
This is the first ODI series the Tigers have played since veterans Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim retired from the format after the Champions Trophy. Though Soumya Sarkar has recovered from his injury, the selectors want to give him more time before he returns to the field. Left-armed spinner Nasum Ahmed has been dropped.
Naim has played in eight ODIs so far and scored an average of 95 runs, for an average of 13.57. His strike rate is 60.50. He last played in the 2023 Asia Cup.
Since then, he has scored more than 500 runs in each of the last two seasons of the Dhaka Premier League (DPL). In the 2024 league, he scored 536 runs with one century and four fifties.
In this year's DPL, he scored 618 runs over 11 innings for Prime Bank Cricket Club, with two fifties and two centuries. The improvement in his strike rate was noticeable, at 121.89. In addition to pure numbers, his batting style has also changed. After announcing the team, Chief Selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain also said that they have seen signs of improvement in the 25-year-old batsman's style of play.
Like Naim, Shamim last played an ODI in the 2023 Asia Cup. With Mahmudullah retiring from the lower middle-order, he is now stepping up once again. The 24-year-old batsman has been a regular in the T20 International squads recently.
Litton was dropped from the Champions Trophy team due to regular poor performances in ODIs. He has racked up only 35 runs over the last eight innings in the format. After recently taking over the role of captain in T20Is, the experienced keeper-batsman has a chance to make a fresh start in ODIs.
Like Liton, Hasan was not part of the Champions Trophy squad. Due to Taskin Ahmed's ankle problem, an extra pacer was selected in consideration of the workload, giving the 25-year-old pacer the chance to show off his chops.
Tanvir was called up to the national squad for the first time in the Test team against Zimbabwe in April. He has since played six T20Is and now has a chance to establish his spot in ODIs. He took 15 wickets in 13 matches in the last season of the Bangladesh Premier League.
The 28-year-old spinner took five wickets in two matches against the New Zealand “A” team at home last month. The chief selector said Tanvir was taking Nasum’s place as part of a “rotation”.
Despite recent brilliant performances in domestic cricket and for the Bangladesh “A” team, Nurul Hasan Sohan did not get a call-up. The chief selector said that there wasn’t any need for any other keeper-batsman in the team with Litton's return.
The ODI series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will start on Jul 2 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The second match of the series will be played on Jul 5 at the same ground and the third and final match will be on Jul 8 in Pallekele.
Squad: Mehidy Hasan Miraz (captain), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Mohammad Naim, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Litton Das, Jaker Ali, Shamim Hossain, Rishad Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud.
