Bangladesh announce a 30 man preliminary squad for 2011 World Cup
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced their preliminary squad for the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup 2011.
The co-hosts of the event announced a 30 man squad which had a surprise inclusion of Alok Kapali who has been out of action from the international cricket for almost three years since 2008.
Kapali, who has a burgeoning reputation as an all rounder, was restricted to play limited overs in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) as his international career was put on hold when he decided to join the rebel ICL and he was banned along with several Bangla
players for ten years. However, Kapali announced in June 2009 that he has quit the ICL to be available for the national selection yet he was overlooked for the calendar year 2010.
Kapali, who has an impressive 65 caps under his belt, averages 19.83 with the bat and 49.75 with his Shane Warne reminiscent leg-spinners. As he wandered off to the ICL, the 21-year-old fast bowler Dolar Mahmud found his way into the national squad even
though he could not cement his place with the few opportunities he had.
Mahmud who has not played for the Tigers camp since 2009 was also named in the 30 man preliminary squad.
Mahmud and Kapali’s inclusion in the 30 man probable for the World Cup 2011 was the only major surprise in the announcement made by a three member selection committee led by Rafiqul Alam. The other 28 members of the preliminary squad included all those players
who have been playing since the last two years as well as some players who have been shining in the domestic circuit.
The squad was announced after a technical committee meeting held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur earlier this week. The committee considered this year’s performance as well as the domestic cricket performance of the national cricketers. The
list also included promising players such as Shuvogoto Hom and all-rounder Shabbir Rahman.
The most notable player of this year was Shuvogoto who steered his team to their first ever gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games at Guangzhou in November. The bowler’s fast deliveries strangled the Sri Lankan middle order and minnows Afghanistan in the semi-final
and final respectively.
The squad also included Mohammad Ashraful who successfully led the team in the Asian Games. The Tiger camp is riding high as they are fast becoming a new force to be reckoned in the international circuit as they unleashed a 4-0 whitewash against New Zealand
in October and recently took a 3-1 victory against Zimbabwe.
The technical committee along with the selection panel also discussed the preparation layout for the main event which is scheduled to begin from February 19th that will be co-hosted by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India. The opening match would
be played between co-hosts India and Bangladesh at Dhaka.
BCB’s media committee chairman Jalal Yunus who is also a member of the technical committee said that the board will not be able to “manage the central wicket practice at Mirpur and that’s why the training camp will be conducted at the Academy ground.”
He also confirmed the media reports that Bangladesh will not be playing any international cricket even though national coach Jamie Siddons expressed his desire for an international series before the World Cup.
“Practically it’s not possible to get any top team before the World Cup,” Yunus said.
Bangladesh announced the preliminary squad just in time as the ICC declared a deadline of December 19th to announce a provisional squad and the final teams must be announced until January 19th next year.
Preliminary World Cup Squad: Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Roqibul Hassan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Nazmul Hossain, Naeem Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul
Islam, Abdur Razzak, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Shahriar Nafees, Nazimuddin, Shamsur Rahman, Jahirul Islam, Sahagir Hossain, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain, Mahbubul Alam, Dolar Mahmud, Mithun Ali, Nasir Hossain, Shuvogoto Chowdhury, Enamul Haque Junior, Shabbir Rahman,
Alok Kapali
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