Mominul Haque is back in Bangladesh’s squad for the first Test against Australia
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Bangladesh have re-added batsman Mominul Haque to their squad for the first Test against Australia, which will get underway on August 27 in Mirpur.
Mominul was originally dropped from the Test side for the first time since making his debut back in March 2013, but he was recalled after Mosaddek Hossain was ruled out of the match with an eye infection.
The national selectors were aware of Mosaddek’s eye infection after he missed Bangladesh’s training camp in Chittagong earlier this month.
According to his eye specialist, the 21-year-old has been advised to rest for 15 days.
All-rounder Nasir Hossain was selected as a back-up for Mosaddek, but after being heavily criticised, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) decided to hold a selection meeting, during which it was decided that Mominul would be brought back into the squad.
However, BCB president Nazmul Hassan remains unsure whether Mominul will be included in the playing XI.
“I don’t know if he would be in the XI but there was an opportunity to keep him in the squad,” Hassan said. “What would happen if they made it a 15-man squad instead of a 14-man squad? There’s no need to create controversy. Anybody would feel bad seeing Mominul out of the squad.
“We have decided that Mominul is coming in as Saikat has an eye infection. So we don’t want to take a risk with him. See, it wouldn’t have come to that if we didn’t have a gap [in communication].”
While Mominul was recalled, the same cannot be said about all-rounder Mahmudullah, who was the other player that was dropped for the first Test against the Baggy Greens.
Mahmudullah has since signed up to represent the Jamaica Tallawahs in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The 31-year-old will replace compatriot Shakib Al Hasan in the Tallawahs’ squad.
Bangladesh’s squad for the first Test: Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Mominul Haque, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Nasir Hossain, Shafiul Islam