BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin explained the exclusion saying, “We are all aware that Tamim Iqbal is a long-term injury concern. He returned for the New Zealand series. After the first match, there was a bit of a complain. We thought of his injury concern when not taking him in the squad. We have spoken to all concerned, before taking this decision. We discussed it with Tamim. We can’t tell you what we spoke about. We discussed it with the team management, and didn’t want to take a risk in a long World Cup campaign. It is a very important event.”
The BCB had initially said that the team for the World Cup would be declared at 5:45pm on Tuesday, but later delayed the announcement to after the third ODI between Bangladesh and New Zealand. The extra couple of hours added fuel to speculation that there may be a last minute change, but it wasn’t to be.
The medical team decided to rest Tamim, along with a number of other players from the ODI side, for the third game against New Zealand.
“You can’t take risk with some injuries,” Abedin said. “If someone gets injured in the World Cup, it will get the team management into an uncomfortable situation. He played the first two matches, but we had to rest him. He had a bit of pain after the second game. We considered this before taking the decision.
“Tamim is one of our best players but an injury concern restricts his ability. He had suffered with back pain for a long time so the New Zealand series was a chance to check his fitness. He played the second game fully, but he didn’t play the third match. We discussed it with the medical team, after which we took the decision.”
Mehidy Hasan Miraz who has batted in four positions in ODIs this year, will continue to be the floater. Mehidy is likely to open in certain matches, but his main role has been at No 7.
The pace attack includes Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman and Tanzim Hasan. Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed finds himself in the World Cup squad after a late rally with some impressive showings in the Asia Cup recently.
The squad includes four players from the Under-19 World Cup winning side from 2020: Hridoy, Shoriful, Tanzid and Tanzim.
World Cup Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto (vice-capt), Towhid Hridoy, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hasan, Tanzid Hasan, Tanzim Hasan, Mahmudullah