BCB President discloses possible teams for Bangabandhu centenary match
The BCB President said that these players were not confirmed and the squads will be confirmed only after all parties have reached an agreement.
To commemorate the 100th birthday of the father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) are set to hold a couple of T20 matches between Asia XI and World XI in March.
There have been speculations about who is going to be in the squad with questions regarding the Pakistani players and also another major question was if Indian skipper Virat Kohli will take part in any of the action.
After Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe in their one-off Test by an innings and 106 runs, BCB President Nazmul Hassan disclosed the possible players who were set to play in the matches. No player from Pakistan was included in the squad because of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and Nazmul Hasan said that they were still trying to bring in Kohli for at least one match.
The BCB President also said that these players were not confirmed and the squads will be confirmed only after all parties have reached an agreement.
The possible Asia XI will be formed with five players from Bangladesh and India, two players from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan and one from Nepal. If Kohli and BCCI agree to play, the count for Indian players will rise up to six.
The Bangladeshi players included in the possible squad are Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mustafizur Rahman and Liton Das. KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Mohammad Shami and Kuldeep Yadav will be the representatives from India with Rahul set to play only one match.
"We have got four names from India - Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan and Mohammad Shami. They have said KL Rahul will play in one match. Rahul will play one match and Kohli the other - discussions about that are going on. But that is still not final," Nazmul said.
He also added, "We can mix-match our players and play them in one match each. Tamim and Mushfiq are confirmed and also Riyad and Mustafiz. Another player we are talking about is Liton Das. There will be 4-5 Bangladeshi players in the squad."
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Rashid Khan will participate from Afghanistan and Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera from Sri Lanka. Leg-spinner Sandip Lamicchane is the only player to be included from Nepal.
"We have thought of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb from Afghanistan. But we have not reached any agreement. We are speaking to Lamicchane from Nepal. We have finalised talks with Malinga and Thisara from Sri Lanka," added the BCB President.
On the other hand, the possible World XI squad have a bulk of stars in the squad as Chris Gayle, Ross Taylor, Jonny Bairstow, Kieran Pollard and Faf du Plessis will participate. The other players in the World XI are - Nicholas Pooran, Sheldon Cottrell, Adil Rashid, Alex Hales, Lungi Ngidi, Andrew Tye and Mitchell McClenaghan.
Nazmul said, "There will be 4-5 players each from the West Indies and South Africa. Australia and New Zealand have matches so I don't know how many will come. Bairstow will be there. Chris Gayle should be there. Du Plessis will be there."
The matches are set to be played at the Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on 18th and 21st March.
