Mohammad Naim recalled to the Bangladesh squad for the Asia Cup

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have announced the inclusion of opening batter Mohammad Naim in the squad for the upcoming Asia Cup tournament, commencing on the 27th of August, in UAE. The southpaw’s inclusion in the 16-man squad was announced by the board on Monday, 22nd of August.

Mohammad Naim, who celebrates his 23rd birthday today, couldn’t have asked for a better present as he was recalled to the national team to replace the injured pacer Hasan Mahmud, who was ruled out of the tournament after suffering ligament damage to his right ankle during training on August 20. The pacer is set to miss three weeks of action.

Naim was part of the Bangladesh A squad during their recent tour of the West Indies and has been capped 34 times for the national team in T20Is. The Bangladeshi team will leave for the UAE from Dhaka on Tuesday, 23rd August. Notably, the team will also be without wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan, who was originally a part of the squad for the Asia Cup 2022, but will miss the tournament after undergoing surgery on his left index finger in Singapore.

It is difficult for us to think about making the Asia Cup final: Shakib Al Hasan

Bangladesh are heading to the upcoming continental tournament following back-to-back series defeats against Zimbabwe across T20Is and ODIs, and the newly appointed T20I skipper, Shakib Al Hasan, has dismissed the talk of making it to the finals. He stated that the team is looking at making it to the knockout stages of the tournament and wants to keep the targets in the dressing room rather than discussing it in the media.

“It is difficult for us [to think about making the Asia Cup final]. If we can show a bit of improvement from what we have done in the last year-and-a-half, it would be an achievement. We should make it to the Super 4s, but I feel that if we can’t achieve targets that we set before a tournament, you will tell us that we talk big but can’t achieve targets. Let us keep our targets in the dressing room. I don’t want to discuss it here,” Shakib said in his first press interaction since becoming T20I captain.