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Mahmudullah, Afif in WC plans, says chief selector

Staff Correspondent
29 Apr 2023 00:00:00 | Update: 29 Apr 2023 00:46:56
Mahmudullah, Afif in WC plans, says chief selector

Mahmudullah Riyad and Afif Hossain were left out of Bangladesh’s latest One-Day International series at home against Ire-land and overlooked again for the three-match Ireland series in England next month.

However, Bangladesh National Team chief selector Minhajul Abedin said that they were not totally discarded as they were moving forward with a 24-player pool for the ODI World Cup in India later this year.

Both Mahmudullah and Afif endured sticky spells before getting dropped as the former struggled with scoring at a decent pace, while the latter simply found it tough to score consistently at number 7.

Since the start of 2022, Mahmudullah scored 481 runs in 16 innings with an average of 43.72 but his strike rate was only 68.91. Afif, on the other hand, scored 396 runs in 15 innings in that period with an average of 33 but failed to reach double digits in four of his last six innings.

On Thursday, the Tigers’ Team Director and Bangladesh Cricket Board director Khaled Mahmud told the media that he did not see Mahmudullah in the World Cup because of his exclusion from these recent series.

However, Minhajul said that the veteran was still in their plans.

“We have a pool of 24 players (for the World Cup). So, there’s nothing particular (about Mahmudullah). Those who are there, all are being monitored for the tournament,” he said when asked about Mahmudullah’s chances for the showcase

tournament.

Regarding Afif, the chief selector said, “Of course Afif is there. We are monitoring all 24 players well. Nobody is going out of sight. Whoever we think is necessary, will be picked.”

Minhajul also added that they wanted to make their decisions regarding the World Cup squad before the Asia Cup.

“We have a lot of series ahead of the World Cup. There is the Asia Cup, the Ireland series, and the Afghanistan series. We are thinking about all of them. Because there are a lot of matches and the players’ fitness is a big concern. So, we are mov-ing forward that way. Hopefully, after thinking series-by-series, we will get the World Cup squad pool ready before the Asia Cup,” he said on Friday.

Mohammad Naim, who only featured for Bangladesh twice in ODIs, has been in scintillating form in the ongoing Dhaka Premier League, which Minhajul said they were monitoring for the subsidiary teams of the national side.

Naim has 719 runs in 11 innings for Abahani in the current season, and Minhajul said that he will be in the 24-player pool.

“Naim is doing really well. He was in our High-Performance side. The A team will play in the coming days, and we will ob-serve him there too. There are a lot of players doing well in the DPL, and they are being monitored. Naim will definitely be in our pool of 24 players,” the chief selector said.

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