Dhaka, Nov 23 (IANS) Bangladesh have selected Mohammad Saifuddin and Mahidul Islam Ankon for the first two Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) of the forthcoming three-match series against Ireland, two changes from the squad that played the West Indies last month.

Saifuddin returns to the shortest format after playing in the Afghanistan T20Is in Sharjah, where Bangladesh swept 3-0. Ankon, who has only played one Test and three ODIs and is uncapped in T20Is, now has a new chance to establish himself in Bangladesh’s top order.

Taskin Ahmed and Shamim Hossain were excluded because of obligations in the Abu Dhabi T10 league, according to chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain.

“Taskin has an NOC, so he is not available to us currently,” Hossain said. “We know that he will play for Bangladesh whenever we ask him to, but we are well aware of the plans.”

He added that Shamim Hossain was omitted to try out new options at the top of the order. “We haven’t considered Shamim Hossain for the first two T20Is. We have picked Mahidul Islam so that we can try someone in the top four.”

The entire three-match series will be played in Chattogram on November 27, 29 and December 2, as Bangladesh continue to fine-tune their T20I setup ahead of a busy 2025 calendar.

Bangladesh squad for Ireland T20Is

Litton Das (capt), Saif Hassan (vice-capt), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Tawhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Nurul Hasan, Mahidul Islam Ankon, Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Shoriful Islam, Mohammad Saifuddin.

–IANS

hs/