Mominul Haque under consideration for ODI spot

Mominul Haque is being considered as a top-order option in Bangladesh's ODI set-up after his 182 off 133 balls against Ireland A in a one-day match on Wednesday. Typecast as a Test specialist during Chandika Hathurusingha's tenure as Bangladesh coach, Mominul last played an ODI during the 2015 World Cup. However, given the likes of Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das have not been able to grab a spot permanently in the ODI mix since October last year, an opportunity may open up for Mominul.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan, who met Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes in Dhaka hours after the team's arrival from the West Indies, said that Mominul was under consideration even though there aren't many places left in the batting line-up. But he admitted both Liton and Soumya should have been more consistent.

"Most of our batting positions are fixed," Hassan said. "Since Shakib is batting at No. 3, I think we can only think about two other batting positions in the top seven. We are really happy that Mominul has made 182. We consider him as a really good batsman.

"Soumya or Liton are not consistent. Liton batted well in a Nidahas Trophy game in which we successfully chased 200 runs. He did well in the last game in West Indies tour. So we are discussing options. We have a chance to blood youngsters in the upcoming home season."

Soumya lost his place in the ODI side after the 2017 series against South Africa, becoming a T20I regular thereafter. However, in that format too, he has averaged under eight in the last 11 innings. Liton has shown glimpses of quality since the South Africa tour, but he managed only one T20I fifty, towards the close of the West Indies tour. Anamul Haque had been given a run of seven ODIs this year as Tamim Iqbal's opening partner, but he managed only 85 runs.