Bangladesh has announced the inclusion of Najmul Hossain Shanto and fast bowler Hasan Mahmud in their T20I squad for the upcoming Asian Games in Japan. Litton Das, who recently recovered from a hamstring injury, will return to captain the 15-man team.
He also compiled 355 runs, including a century and a fifty, during the last Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) season. Shanto, though, recently spearheaded Bangladesh to a historic first Test victory in Australia, where he scored a half-century in Darwin.
Pacer Hasan Mahmud also returns to the national T20 setup after playing during the Pakistan tour last year, where he managed three wickets across three matches at an economy rate of 11.30. Mahmud was named Player of the Match alongside Shanto in the Darwin Test win and claimed 10 wickets at an average of 24.67 in the last BPL. The team will open its campaign in the quarterfinals on September 28 against the winner of Group B, with all cricket fixtures scheduled to take place at the Korogi Sports Park.
Wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan and Abdul Gaffar Saqlain have been dropped from the squad, while fast bowler Nahid Rana misses out as he continues to recover from a side strain. Bangladesh enter the tournament as direct quarterfinalists alongside India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and hosts Japan. The side will be aiming to build on their performance from the previous edition of the Asian Games, where they earned a bronze medal behind silver-medallists Sri Lanka and gold medal winners India. Bangladesh squad: Litton Das (captain), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Tawhid Hridoy, Mosaddek Hossain, Yasir Ali, Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud.
