Wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das has been named captain of Bangladesh for the upcoming one-off Test against Afghanistan, starting from June 14 in Dhaka.
Das’ has been promoted to captaincy after ace Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan’s finger injury ruled him out of action for at least six weeks. Shakib had earlier, picked up the injury during the ODI series against Ireland in Chelmsford last month.
In the 15-member squad led by Das, Bangladesh have included uncapped players, batter Shahadat Hossain Dipu and pacer Musfik Hasan while pacer Taskin Ahmed and Zakir Hasan make a return to the Test team after recovering from side strain and thumb injury respectively.
The squad however, has no place for Shadman Islam and Rejaur Rahman Raja.
Notably, the 21-year-old Shahadat, a right-handed middle-order batter who made his first-class debut in 2021, after being a member of the Bangladesh side winning the 2020 Men’s U-19 World Cup in South Africa anf has amassed 1265 runs from 20 first-class games which included two tons and 10 half-centuries.
On the other hand Mushfik, 20, hogged limelight after his debut in the 2022/23 first-class season and has picked up 49 wickets from just 13 games with three five-wicket hauls.
Both the players were part of Bangladesh A side in the recently-concluded unofficial Test series against West Indies A, with Shahadat slamming two half-centuries.
The Afghanistan Test squad will arrive in Bangladesh on June 10 for the Test match, which will be held from June 14 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. After a short break due to the Eid al-Adha festival, Afghanistan will return to Bangladesh to play three ODIs and two T20Is in July.
Earlier the last time these two teams met in the longest format, Afghanistan had thrashed the Bangla Tigers by 224 runs at Chattogram in 2019.
Bangladesh squad: Litton Kumer Das (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque Showrab, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Shahadat Hossain Dipu, Mushfik Hasan.