Tamim to miss Asia Cup, Kayes called up as replacement

Bangladesh have drafted opening batsman Imrul Kayes into the squad for the Asia Cup in place of Tamim Iqbal, who has opted out due to the imminent birth of his first child. This is the only change from Bangladesh's World T20 squad that was announced earlier this month.

Imrul's last international appearance for Bangladesh came at home against Zimbabwe last month in a four-match T20I series. He scored 1 and 18 in the third and fourth matches, which Zimbabwe won to level the series 2-2. He had made his comeback to the T20I squad against Zimbabwe in November after a gap of nearly four years. He had a successful run for Comilla Victorians in the Bangladesh Premier League 2015-16, finishing as the second-highest run-getter in the tournament with 312 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of 114.70.

The Asia Cup 2016 starts from February 19, with a qualifying round between Afghanistan, UAE, Hong Kong and Oman. The winner of the qualifying round will join the four Full Member teams in the region for the main draw which starts from February 24. Bangladesh play their first match of the tournament on February 24 against India.

Bangladesh Asia Cup squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Abu Hider, Nurul Hasan