Mushfiqur, Liton, Aminul back in Bangladesh T20I squad for New Zealand series

Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das are back among Bangladesh's 19-man squad for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand starting on September 1 in Dhaka. Legspinner Aminul Islam is the other addition while Mohammad Mithun has been dropped from the squad that played against Australia earlier this month.

Rahim and Das both missed the T20Is against Australia after being disallowed into the bio-secure bubble run by the CA and BCB. Rahim missed it by a couple of days after he had to attend to a family emergency in mid-July while Das, who was nursing an injury at the time, couldn't get into the bio-bubble for attending a family emergency.

Aminul returned after being picked for the T20I squad in Zimbabwe, but had to leave early after the death of his father.

Bangladesh went on to win the T20I series 4-1 against Australia, giving them a more balanced look especially at home. Mahmudullah, the captain, will have Shakib Al Hasan, Mahedi Hasan and Nasum Ahmed as the main spinners.

Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam showed good form against Australia with the slightly older ball. Mohammad Saifuddin too was among wickets, and they have Taskin Ahmed and Rubel Hossain in the squad too.

Bangladesh's main worry therefore is their batting, as they averaged around 125-130 against Australia. Rahim will stabliise the middle order while Das will become another option for Mahmudullah and coach Russell Domingo in the top order that didn't do well against Australia.

But there was no place for the out-of-form Mithun, the middle-order batter, who didn't play T20Is against Australia or Zimbabwe. He scored 51 runs in his last three ODIs, against Zimbabwe last month, after scoring 118 runs in eight innings across formats against West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka earlier in the year. His only big score, an unbeaten 73 off 57, came against New Zealand just before his form went south.

T20I squad: Mahmudullah (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mosaddek Hossain, Afif Hossain, Mohammad Naim, Nurul Hasan, Shamim Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shoriful Islam, Taijul Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam, Nasum Ahmed