Bangladesh recall Mustafizur for Sri Lanka Tests

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 rigors 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 and will be their 100th Test match. They are then scheduled to play three 50-over ODIs before facing off for two Twenty20 international 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. Dickwella banned after T20 dissent Sri Lanka’s Niroshan Dickwella was suspended for two limited-overs matches on Tuesday after he was punished for dissent during last week’s pulsating Twenty20 win over Australia. The wicketkeeper and opening batsman was docked two demerit points and fined 30 percent of his match fee for his aggrieved reaction to being given out caught behind on Sunday, reaching five points and triggering an automatic ban. Australia wicketkeeper Tim Paine was fined 15 percent of his match fee and received one demerit point for taunting Dickwella over the dismissal in Geelong. Dickwella was punished after he paused to view the replay, kicked the turf and stared over his shoulder “for a prolonged period of time”, an International cricket Council statement said. The suspension means Dickwella will miss Wednesday’s third and final Twenty20 against Australia in Adelaide, when the hosts will seek a consolation win. Sri Lanka clinched victory on the very last ball on Sunday when Chamara Kapugedera hammered a boundary, following Asela Gunaratne’s 84 not out off 46 balls. — AFP