Mosaddek to miss practice games ahead of tri-series

Mosaddek Hossain's return to international cricket remains on track, despite his being kept out of the teams for both of Bangladesh's practice matches - on January 6 and 9 - ahead of the tri-series with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe which starts from January 15. The two teams will led by Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza.

Mosaddek will instead be playing for Central Zone next week in the Bangladesh Cricket League, a first-class competition. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin said that Mosaddek would get a longer time to bat in the middle for Central Zone. "He is definitely in contention for the ODI squad selection. But we want him to play a longer innings, so we are sending him to the BCL," he said.

Apart from Mosaddek, Shafiul Islam, Mominul Haque, Subashis Roy, Shadman Islam, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Taijul Islam, and Mahedi Hasan have all been released for the BCL's first round, which is scheduled to begin from January 9.

The 22-year-old Mosaddek last played international cricket during the Champions Trophy in 2017, before picking up an eye infection which kept him out of Bangladesh's Test series against Australia and South Africa. Mosaddek had impressed in his only Test, against Sri Lanka early in 2017, hitting a crucial 75 in the first innings in Colombo.

Mosaddek had limited opportunity in the recently-concluded Bangladesh Premier League where he batted mostly in the lower order for Dhaka Dynamites, scoring 64 runs in nine innings.