Mustafizur Rahman dropped for Pakistan Tests; Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar return

Bangladesh have dropped left-arm quick Mustafizur Rahman for the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi next week, while Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Rubel Hossain have been called back to the squad.

While senior batsman Mushfiqur Rahim had opted out of touring Pakistan due to security concerns, Mosaddek Hossain, Imrul Kayes, Shadman Islam and Mehidy Hasan have been ruled out with injuries.

Tamim makes a comeback to the Test side after last playing in the format in March 2019 against New Zealand. Shanto last played a Test in September 2018 and Soumya, who missed out on the India series last year, last played in the home Test against Afghanistan in November. Rubel fell out of favour in Test cricket after some poor performances in 2017-18 but he's been recalled in place of the recovering Taskin Ahmed.

"We felt [Najmul Hossain] Shanto has been doing well at every level, especially in the High Performance side while we wanted to give Rubel Hossain another chance in the Test side as Taskin Ahmed isn't fully fit," chief selector Minhajul Abedin said. "Soumya has replaced Shadman who requires surgery on his wrist,"

While Imrul is still recovering from a hamstring injury, Mosaddek has been out of action since the middle of the India tour due to a shoulder injury. Mushfiqur is also suffering from a hamstring injury and could also be ruled out of the one-off Test against Zimbabwe later this month, while offspinner Mehidy is yet to recover from a finger injury.

The Bangladesh team will depart for Rawalpindi on Tuesday.