Bangladesh drops Mominul, Mahmudullah for Australia Test

The two were part of Bangladesh’s squad during its last series in Sri Lanka.

“It was expected that Mahmudullah would not be in the squad because he did not play the final Test in Sri Lanka,” according to Bangladesh’s chief selector.

Bangladesh has dropped batsmen Mominul Haque and Mahmudullah Riyad from its 14-man squad for the first Test against Australia beginning here on August 27.

Mominul and Mahmudullah were part of Bangladesh’s squad during its last series in Sri Lanka, though they did not play the final Test in Colombo, which Bangladesh won by four wickets to finish the two-match series 1-1. “It was expected that Mahmudullah would not be in the squad because he did not play the final Test in Sri Lanka,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin said in Dhaka while announcing the squad.

Smith: India experience to be handy for Bangladesh tour

“Mominul also missed out the last Test match. In addition, the kind of statistics that we have, they indicate he is not in good form,” said Minhajul. “He scored just one fifty in the last six innings since January. Yet, he is in our plan for the future. [But] at the moment, we are preferring Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar more in his position,” he said.

Shafiul Islam also returned to the side after a good show during a recent warm-up match in Chittagong when he picked up five wickets. Subashis Roy and Rubel Hossain, who were in the Test side during the Sri Lanka series, have also been omitted.

Tight security for Australia

The Australian team arrived in the Bangladesh capital on Friday to play two Tests against the host as tight security greeted Steven Smith’s men at the airport. Bangladesh has not played a Test against Australia since Ricky Ponting’s team visited the country in 2006, six years after it was granted Test status.

Australia was due to play two Tests in Bangladesh in October 2015 but the tour was cancelled over security fears after a wave of attacks by Islamist extremists in the Muslim-majority nation. Cricket Australia agreed to reschedule the series this year only after Bangladesh promised a head-of-state style security for the visitors.

Australia is scheduled to play a warm-up match on August 22-23 before it takes on Bangladesh in the first Test at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. The second Test will begin at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong from September 4.

Squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (c), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.