Mushfiqur Rahim’s comeback headlines Bangladesh’s squad named for the three-match ODI series on the tour of Zimbabwe scheduled for August. The former captain skipped the series in the Caribbean against the West Indies, which the tourists won 3-0.
Rahim had opted out of the West Indies trip for religious reasons as he performed the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage. The cricketer will be giving the T20I leg of the Zimbabwean trip a miss but will be back in the national side in time for the ODIs that follow.
The veteran right-hander last played the 50-over version in March during Bangladesh’s historic 2-1 series win in South Africa. The ODI game has been Rahim’s most fruitful format for Bangladesh, scoring nearly 7,000 runs from 233 matches with eight hundreds and 41 half-centuries.
Rahim is Bangladesh’s third highest run-maker in the ongoing ICC Super League cycle with 523 runs from 15 matches at an average of 43.58. He stands behind only skipper Tamim Iqbal (624) and Liton Das (592) in the runs tally for the tournament that dictates direct qualifiers for the 2023 World Cup in India.
The upcoming three-match series versus Zimbabwe is not part of the Super League since the two rivals have already met for the competition a year before. But offers a nice opportunity for Bangladesh to continue fine-tuning their game heading towards the World Cup in India.
Apart from Mushfiqur, the selectors have also brought back pacer Hasan Mahmud into the ODI side after a 16-month layoff due to injury. Mahmud also features in the T20I side, which will be led by wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan in the absence of regular skipper Mahmudullah.
Mahmudullah has been given rest due to a super quick turnaround from the tour of the Caribbean. So has been premier allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, who will skip the entire Zimbabwe trip to recharge his batteries.
The tour kicks off with three T20Is on July 30, 31 and August 2, followed by the ODIs scheduled on August 5, 7 and 10. All matches will be played in Harare.
