Pacer Rubel Hossain was included in the Bangladesh squad ahead of their ICC men’s T20 World Cup clash against England. His inclusion came only to facilitate the vacant spot that was created due to Mohammad Saifuddin’s injury. The change in the squad was approved by the event technical committee.
Medium-pacer Saifuddin was ruled out due to a back injury. Since he is unavailable, Hossain’s services were acquired. He has played 159 international matches including 28 T20Is.
Saifuddin had taken one wicket for 38 runs in his three overs when Bangladesh lost by five wickets to Sri Lanka in their tournament-opener on October 24.
Bangladesh will play their second match on Wednesday against England.
“Rubel was a reserve as per the allowance for teams to travel with extra players in view of COVID-19 quarantine requirements,” an ICC release said.
The replacement of a player requires the approval of the event technical committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.
The committee consists of Chris Tetley (Head of Events, Chair), Clive Hitchcock (ICC Senior Cricket Operations Manager), Rahul Dravid and Dhiraj Malhotra (BCCI Representatives), Simon Doull and Ian Bishop (Independent Members).
As for the match, both the nations will be playing a T20 World Cup match against each other for the first time. While England will be looking to sweep the opposition aside, they will be wary of a Bangladesh side that is familiar with the conditions that will be waiting for them at Abu Dhabi.
Bangladesh pacers will be looking to exploit the condition as they take on a superior English side.
Squads:
England Squad: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan(c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills, David Willey, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Tom Curran
Bangladesh Squad: Mohammad Naim, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mahmudullah(c), Nurul Hasan(w), Mahedi Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Shamim Hossain
