Bangladesh recall Mustafizur for Sri Lanka Tests

The 21-year-old pacer has not represented his national team in five-day format since making his debut in 2015

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Tuesday recalled their left-arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman in a 16-man squad for the upcoming two-Test series in Sri Lanka after his prolonged injury lay-off.

The 21-year-old has not played a Test since his debut series against South Africa in 2015 after suffering a series of injuries. He underwent surgery on his shoulder last year.

While he made a brief return to the limited-overs side against New Zealand at the turn of the year, he was not deemed fit enough to withstand the rigours of a five-day Test match.

Bangladesh are due to play two Tests against the Sri Lankans -- one in Galle from March 7-11 and another in the capital Colombo which starts on March 15, which will also going to be their 100th match in the five-day format.

They are then scheduled to play three 50-over matches before facing off for two T20I matches at the tailend of the tour, which wraps up on April 6.

The selectors also handed fast bowler Rubel Hossain a recall after he was ignored for Bangladesh's recent defeat in a one-off Test against India, meaning there are five pacemen in the squad.

"We think we would require an extra pacer in testing conditions in Sri Lanka," said chief selector Minhajul Abedin.

Opening batsman Imrul Kayes was not named in the squad after he failed to recover sufficiently from a thigh injury picked up in India, but Abedin said he could be called up for the second Test if he regains fitness.

Squad:

Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah Riyad, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Kamrul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Subashis Roy and Rubel Hossain.