The BCB has made a major changes in the Bangladesh squad bringing in Litton Das, Mohammad Naim, Shamim Hossain, Tanvir Islam and Hasan Mahmud looking forward to rebuild their ODI squad after a disappointing Champions Trophy campaign.
The development comes after Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim announced their international and ODI retirement respectively after foloowing their CT exit.
The side is set to play a three match ODI series in Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka 2025. Chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain said that Litton was given the opportunity in part because he was recently named as the Bangladesh T20I captain.
Litton Das made only 35 runs in eight ODIs between the tour of New Zealand in December 2023 and the tour of West Indies in December 2024 before being dropped, including for the Champions Trophy.
“Litton Das was in a bad patch but time is the best healer. He is the T20 captain, so we can consider him till the next T20 World Cup,” Ashraf said. “If someone has to return to form, it is best to spend a long time in the middle. We feel that Litton can take his form from ODIs to T20Is.”
“Naim has shown that he can bat with the same intensity as our [recent] white-ball openers,” Ashraf said. “He has done well in the Dhaka Premier League. We also have someone like Soumya Sarkar, who has ten years of international experience. [He has been dropped because] we want to help him recover fully, so that he can come back properly.”
Ashraf added that five fast bowlers have added to Bangladesh squad to manage to workload of Tasking Ahmed and Nahid Rana.
“We have included five fast bowlers in the ODI side as we have Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed are returning from injuries. We are also mindful of Nahid Rana’s workload management, so we have kept enough options to choose from.”
Speaking about excluding sarkar, Ashraf said, “Soumya Sarkar has had three injuries in the last 12-15 months. He had an ACL injury against Sri Lanka last year. He had a finger injury in West Indies.”
“Recently, he suffered a back spasm when we were considering him for the UAE series. He didn’t recover in time, so he couldn’t play any matches. We couldn’t keep him in the side against Pakistan. We want him to recover fully, and return to consideration,” concluded Ashraf.
The three match ODI series will begin on July 2 and will be played on 05 and 08 respectively. The first two ODIs will be held at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo while the third match will be played as Pallekele.
Bangladesh squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Mehidy Hasan Miraz (c), 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
