Instant reward for Liton

You don't often get to see players getting an immediate result for their positive performance in domestic cricket in Bangladesh. It generally takes months of consistent performance before a player is promoted to the national team.

And so, when Liton Das was catapulted into the national team yesterday following his game-changing 219 for Islami Bank East Zone in the Bangladesh Cricket League, it led to a few raised eyebrows. After all, a few weeks ago Nurul Hasan was considered Mushfiqur Rahim's back-up, but since yesterday it seems as though as the competition for that spot has heated up.

The reason to include Liton was more because of his batting than wicket-keeping.

“Before the England series, Liton Das was a regular for us in home series. He got injured eventually and lost a bit of form. But we decided to pick him after his double hundred. The series is being played in the subcontinent and that aspect went for him,” explained chief selector Minhajul Abedin yesterday.

“Nurul is a better wicketkeeper, but we are focusing more on the batting here. If Mushfiqur gets injured, we will need a good batting-wicketkeeper to replace him.”

Aside from Liton, Shafiul Islam has also been included in the squad. He has replaced Mustafizur Rahman. The three players -- Mushfiqur, Imrul Kayes and Mominul Haque -- who could not play the last Test due to injury have also been included in the team after they passed their respective fitness Tests.

The other players who were dropped were Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Rubel Hossain.

In all, Bangladesh have included three spinners -- Shakib Al Hasan, Mehedi Hasan MIraz and Taijul Islam -- and four pacers in Taskin Ahmed, Shubhahis Roy, Shafiul Islam and Kamrul Islam Rabbi in their bowling department.

The team management do not really know what to expect from Hyderabad as far as conditions are concerned, and as a result the squad has been formed with an aim to tackle anything that comes their way.

“We are ready for any wicket. That's why we have spinners and fast bowlers in the squad. It's very difficult to predict [what kind of wicket they will play on] because the two-day squad has three fast bowlers and an all-rounder and then they have an Australian tour afterwards,” explained coach Chandika Hathurusingha.

Hathurusingha reckons that it will be challenging for his batsmen to change their mindset and adjust to the Indian conditions after having played in New Zealand for a month. He is also aware that his batsmen will have to do well against Ravichandran Ashwin and the other Indian spinners.

SQUAD

Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Tamim Iqbal, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wk), Mominul Haque, Shafiul Islam.