Liton Das and Mustafizur Rahman continue to be Bangladesh's main injury concerns ahead of the T20I series against Australia starting August 3, but chief selector Minhajul Abedin expects two key players to be picked for the third of the five matches Players will be available. To be played on 6th August.
"Liton and Mustafiz should be available by the second or third game," Abedin told ESPNcricinfo. "We are not too worried about them. They will be back. Overall, we are confident about the team. We have just won one T20 series [against Zimbabwe]."
Das suffered a left thigh injury during the first T20I on 20 July and missed the remaining matches of the series. Rahman played only one ODI and one T20I during the tour after suffering an ankle injury during a tour match on 14 July. Apart from them, Soumya Sarkar is suffering from back pain from the third T20I on Sunday while Shakib Al Hasan has been managing a groin injury for a long time.
The selectors, however, are not required to announce a squad in advance – according to the terms of play agreed to by both boards, teams can only field players who have either been in quarantine in Dhaka since 20 July, or been a part of it. Tour of Zimbabwe and, in the case of Australia, the West Indies. For Bangladesh, the 18-man team involved in a 2-1 series win in Zimbabwe will head straight to the team hotel in Dhaka after arriving in the country on July 29.
Among those originally named in the Zimbabwe tour squad, Tamim Iqbal is out with a knee injury while Mushfiqur Rahim is out after being forced to miss the July 20 quarantine deadline due to a family matter. Legspinner Aminul Islam has also been out of contention after going back to Bangladesh in the middle of the T20I series following the death of his father.
Bangladesh have included Taijul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Mithun and Mosaddek Hossain, who were part of the ODI squad for missing players in the T20I squad.
Bangladesh T20 squad: Mahmudullah (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Nurul Hasan (wk), Taskin Ahmed, Shorful Islam, Taijul Islam, Mohammad Naeem, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Afif Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Mithun, Mosaddek Hussain, Soumya Sarkar, Shamim Hussain, Nasum Ahmed, Mahedi Hassan.