Shakib, Litton miss out on Bangladesh’s Champions Trophy squad

The omission from the 15-member Champions Trophy squad could also mark the end of the Shakib's ODI career

Dhaka: Bangladesh on Sunday omitted former skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who has been suspended from bowling in international and domestic cricket because of an illegal action, from their Champions Trophy squad.

Shakib, who failed a test of his bowling action at the Loughborough University in England last month, also could not procure a positive assessment in a second independent test conducted at the Sri Ramachandra Centre for Sports Science in Chennai recently.

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The omission from the 15-member Champions Trophy squad could also mark the end of the 37-year-old’s ODI career. The tournament begins on February 19. Shakib, who was retired from Test and T20I formats, was reported for a suspect bowling action during a one-off appearance for Surrey in the County Championship in September last. On-field umpires Steve O’Shaughnessy and David Millns made the report, which was termed “shocking” by Bangladesh Cricket Board officials.

Bangladesh, who will open their Champions Trophy campaign against India in Dubai on February 20, have also left out seasoned wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das after his recent modest outings. Das could not make a fifty in his last 13 ODI innings. His last 50-plus score was against India at Pune in October 2023. In fact, the 30-year-old’s last seven innings read: 6, 1, 0, 0, 2, 4, 0.

Other than these two big names, all-rounder Afif Hossain, and pacers Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud too failed to get a place in the squad which will be led by Najmul Hossain Shanto. Najmul is returning to the side after missing the home ODIs last year against the West Indies due to a hamstring injury.

Along with Najmul, experienced Mushfiqur Rahim and Mustafizur Rahman and promising top-order batter Towhid Hridoy too have made a comeback.

Squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (C), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Towhid Hridoy, Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Parvez Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan, Nahid Rana.