Opener makes a return after eight years as Bangladesh name T20I squad
Towhid Hridoy, Rejaur Rahman and Tanvir Islam earned maiden call-ups as they named their 15-member T20I squad to take on England in the three T20Is that follow the ODI series.
Hridoy, who earned a maiden ODI call-up for the series against England, was rewarded with a place in the T20I squad too after a strong Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) season, where he scored at a strike rate of over 140 and made five half-centuries in 12 innings.
However, the big surprise package was a recall for 32-year-old Rony Talukdar, whose sole international game until now was a T20I way back in 2015.
Talukdar finished as the second-highest run-scorer in the recently concluded BPL season, notching up 425 runs in 13 matches at an average of 35.41 and a strike rate of 129.17.
Tanvir, a left-arm spinner, also earned his call-up after a good showing in the BPL 2023 season, where he finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker.
There was also a recall for Shamim Hossain, whose last T20I was in November 2021.
There were as many as five omissions from the squad that played the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia last year with the likes of Soumya Sarkar and Mosaddek Hossain missing out. Fast bowlers Ebadot Hossain and Shoriful Islam were also omitted from the squad.
Meanwhile, the Cricket World Cup Super League series began on Wednesday with Bangladesh losing the first ODI to England after a Dawid Malan ton powered England home in a tricky run-chase.
The T20I series begins on March 9 in Chattogram after the three-match ODI series with the final two T20Is scheduled for March 12 and 14 respectively in Dhaka.
Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (c), Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nasum Ahmed, Nurul Hasan, Shamim Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Towhid Hridoy, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Tanvir Islam