Kamrul replaces Shafiul

Bangladesh pacer Shafiul Islam has been ruled out of the ODIs and the T20Is in New Zealand after being diagnosed with a hamstring injury yesterday. Kamrul Islam Rabbi was announced as his replacement in the 22-member preliminary squad for the New Zealand series that will be travelling to Australia later this week.

Shafiul hurt himself while fielding during the first qualifier of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) between the Khulna Titans and the Dhaka Dynamites on Tuesday.

He underwent a scan yesterday and that revealed a grade two hamstring injury on his left leg.

“It may take Shafiul up to four or five weeks to recover and we have therefore announced a replacement,” Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief selector Minhajul Abedin told reporters at Mirpur yesterday.

“If Shafiul can recover before the New Zealand Tests then we will try to play him. We want him in the squad because among all the pacers he is right there at the top in terms of performance. The faster he gets fit, the better it will be,” added Minhajul.

“He played 13 continuous matches in the BPL and I think that's a big deal for him. I don't think he has managed to do that in the last seven or eight years. From that aspect I think he should have received some special attention,” said Minhajul.

When asked if Al-Amin Hossain was not considered as a possible replacement on disciplinary grounds, Minhajul said: “There have been a number of negative things said about him. We didn't consider him.”

Minhajul also said that they would announce a 15-man squad for the ODIs before the first practice game in New Zealand, before revealing the T20I squad after the second ODI and then the Test squad after the second T20I. After the T20Is, five will return and 17 will stay behind, according to the chief selector.