Related Link : Bangladesh in Sri Lanka 2007
Bangladesh Cricket is headed for a new era as the young Mohammad Ashraful has been named as the new Captain taking over Habibul Bashar. The 22-year-old Ashraful has been named as the skipper till the end of the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. Bangladesh will be touring Sri Lanka this month to play 3 Tests and 3 ODIs. Habibul Bashar has been included for both Tests and ODIs although it wasn’t long ago that he wanted to retire from ODIs to prolong his Test Career but then changed his mind.
He might be just 22, but Ashraful has already played 35 Tests and 101 ODIs. Ashraful has been a fresh breath of air for Bangladeshi cricket which was mostly defensive in its early days. However for all the enormous talent that Ashraful possesses, he has managed batting averages of just over 20 in both formats of the game. He has three 100s and 7 fifties in Tests and 11 fifties and a century in One Dayers. Bangladesh would be hoping that the captaincy responsibility disciplines this youngster and brings out a much more consistent show which is so required. For this Sri Lankan tour he will be assisted by an interim coach – Shaun Williams, an Australian.
All rounder in the making – Mashrafe Mortaza will be the deputy to Ashraful. The 15-member test squad also has young wicket keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim along with the veteran wicket keeper Khaled Mashud. Left arm spinner Abdur Razzak who is considered to be more of a One Day commodity also finds a place in the Test Squad as the other left arm spinner Enamul Haque Jr has been dropped. The One day squad will see some changes with Tushar Imran, Tamim Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Farhad Reza and newcomer Mahmudullah flying in for the three ODIs.
Bangladesh Test Squad : Mohammad Ashraful (Captain), Mashrafe Mortaza (Vice Captain), Habibul Bashar, Javed Omar, Mehrab Hossain Jr, Shahriar Nafees, Rajin Saleh, Saqibul Hasan, Khaled Mashud (Wicket Keeper), Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mohammed Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Mohammad Sharif, Mushfiqur Rahim (Wicket Keeper)