The big-name trio of Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris was missing as South Africa confirmed their 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup, starting October 17.
While Du Plessis and Tahir have been left out by the selectors in preference of other options, Cricket South Africa informed that Morris has made himself unavailable for all international cricket at this stage.
Keeping in mind the conditions in UAE, the Proteas have packed their squad with three spinners – Tabraiz Shamsi, Bjorn Fortuin and Keshav Maharaj, who has earned his debut call-up in T20Is. An additional tweaker in the form of George Linde has been named in the reserves.
The team led by Temba Bavuma also has a place for young all-rounder Wiaan Mulder despite his lack of T20I experience. Mulder has played only four T20Is for South Africa so far.
Coming back to Du Plessis & Tahir, it was anticipated that the duo would be brought back to the side, given the marquee nature of the event in the Middle East. However, their prolonged absence from the national scene has come back to haunt them. While Du plessis last featured in a T20I back in December 2020, Tahir’s most recent outing in the format dates back March 2019.
Bangladesh retain core in an unsurprising selection
The side have backed their resources, offering hardly any surprise to their squad for the T20 World Cup. In recent weeks, the Asian giants felt no need to change their core, which has managed series victories at home against Australia and New Zealand.
The only notable absentee is opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, but the veteran left-hander’s absence was known well before the squad was made public on Thursday.
Tamim had informed BCB of his unavailability for the tournament, as he felt it would be unfair on his part, having not played in T20Is for a while due to injury and personal reasons, to take the place of any other active candidate.
With Tamim not there, the selectors have retained Soumya Sarkar in the squad despite the dip in his returns against the Aussies at home.
Interestingly, the Mahmudullah led Bangladesh have had experienced pacer Rubel Hossain demoted from the main playing squad to the reserves. The selectors have left out Hossain and three other players from the 19-man squad named for the New Zealand series.
Afghanistan hand comebacks to senior men for T20 World Cup
Afghanistan’s 18-man squad named for the T20 World Cup notably sees the return of Asgar Afghan, Hamid Hassan, Mohammad Shahzad, Dawlat Zadran and Shapoor Zadran to the national team.
Hasan, the 34-year-old quick, last played for Afghanistan at the 2019 World Cup. He hasn’t played a T20I since 2016, which makes his comeback all that more eyebrow-raising.
Two Zadrans, both in their early thirties, last turned up for the national side in 2019. Shahzad, the exciting power-hitter and keeper, has been brought back, with his one-year ban for disciplinary reasons ending in August 2020.
The most surprising is the return of Afghan, whom the ACB regime had controversially sacked earlier this year after displeasure within the board over his decision-making during a Test series against Zimbabwe in UAE. The ACB had, in fact, opened a probe for the same.
But the board told Cricbuzz that the former skipper is now cleared to resume playing after their fact-finding committee found nothing against him.
Notably, only minutes after ACB confirmed this squad, Afghanistan’s T20I skipper Rashid Khan offered his resignation for lack of involvement in selection – his “right” as a captain – and no “consent” taken from him regarding the choice of the personnel selected.
While Bangladesh are part of Group B in the preliminary round, Afghanistan and South Africa are placed in Super 12 Groups 2 & 1 respectively, at the upcoming ICC event.
