Rubel in line for Test recall

Fast bowler Rubel Hossain may make a comeback to the Test side for the second Test against New Zealand starting on Friday in Christchurch. 

Bangladesh will have to make two enforced changes to the line-up that lost the first Test of the two-match series in Wellington on Monday as both skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and opener Imrul Kayes have been ruled out with a thumb fracture and a thigh muscle tear respectively.

It is expected that reserve wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan will make his Test debut in Mushfiqur’s place, and that batsman Soumya Sarkar is in line to make a comeback to the Test side in Imrul’s place. 

But other than these two changes, it was learnt that there is likely to be another change in the pace department, with Rubel likely to come back to the side in place of first-Test debutant Subhashis Roy. Subhashis performed creditably as part of an inexperienced pace attack that contained fellow debutant Taskin Ahmed and two-Test rookie Kamrul Islam Rabbi. He took two for 89 as Bangladesh took a 56-run first-innings lead. 

With Mushfiqur and Imrul being injured in the first Test, possible changes were being speculated on for some time, with rumours doing the rounds that off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz may sit out in seaming conditions. However, it seems now that Miraz will keep his place and that the change will come in the pace department. 

Rubel last played a Test for Bangladesh on April 28-May 2, 2015 in the first Test against Pakistan in Khulna.

He has however been in good form in New Zealand, finishing as the highest wicket-taker on either side in the three-match T20I series. He will also be the most experienced Bangladesh pacer by far with 23 Tests under his belt.