'Not thinking of World Cup yet'

Bangladesh chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu feels that it is too soon to talk about the ODI World Cup squad with a few more assignments left before the showpiece event.

Talks regarding who will make the World Cup squad have been the rage in the media with Mahmudullah Riyad, Afif Hossain and a few other names in the mix.

"We will not make any decisions in a hurry. We are playing back-to-back series and the best possible side will be built. We still have four months before the World Cup and we have Afghanistan coming up for a series including all three formats, so, we are thinking of organising the sides [for that series]," Minhajul told the media yesterday. "I feel like we are the only Test-playing side where the World Cup discussion is taking place so early. However, we are not thinking of the World Cup but about the Afghanistan series."

Test captain Shakib Al Hasan is currently out with injury and is expected to miss the one-off Test against Afghanistan, starting from June 14. Minhajul was hoping the all-rounder would be fit for the ODI series, set to begin from July 5. "There is a long gap before the ODI series due to Eid-ul-Adha and I hope he will be able to return to the ODI squad," Minhajul said.

The Tigers will not be experimenting against Afghanistan in the Test, Minhajul opined, given their bitter experience when they suffered a 224-run hammering in their first Test against Afghanistan in 2019 in Chattogram.

"There will not be any experiments. Afghanistan are a good side. We won't be taking them lightly given our previous sour experience. The best possible side will be taking on Afghanistan," he said.