The Asia Cup will be held in the United Arab Emirates in September. For which the competing countries are announcing their teams one by one. After Pakistan and India, Bangladesh announced a 16-member team for the Asia Cup today (Friday). There are several surprises in the BCB squad. Nurul Hasan Sohan and Saif Hasan have been returned. However, Mehedi Hasan Miraj has been left out.

Sohan has returned to the Bangladesh T20 team after three years. Under him, the 'A' team is currently playing the Top End T20 series in Australia. Apart from this, Saif Hasan has been called up for international T20s for almost two years. Meanwhile, apart from Miraj, opener Naeem Sheikh, who was in the team for the last series in the format, is not in the Asia Cup team. Former captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto, who has been absent from the T20 team in recent times, has also not found a place.

Before the Asia Cup, Bangladesh will play a three-match T20 series against the Netherlands from August 30. Miraj has already taken paternity leave from that series. Although he is not in the main squad for the Asia Cup, he has been kept as a standby. Apart from this, there are five additional players in the list - Soumya Sarkar, Tanvir Islam and Hasan Mahmud.

There was a discussion about who would be the third opener in Bangladesh's Asia Cup team. Apart from Soumya, the names of Jisan Alam and Naeem Sheikh, who played well for the 'A' team, came up. However, Soumya and Jisan were ahead. However, BCB did not follow that path. Tanjid Tamim and Parvez Hossain Emon are in the main team as openers. Apart from this, captain Liton Das can also play anywhere as opener or one down. In the middle order, Towhid Hridoy, Zaker Ali, along with Sohan and Saif Achen are additional options. Then there is Shamim Hossain Patwari, who has shown his skills in finishing.

Sheikh Mehedi, Rishad Hossain and pace all-rounder Saif Uddin are in the squad as spin all-rounders. Mustafizur Rahman, Tanjim Hasan Shakib, Taskin Ahmed and Shariful Islam will handle the pace department. Nasum Ahmed is the specialist spinner. The Asia Cup will start on September 30. Bangladesh's partners in Group 'B' are Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. Liton-Mustafiz will start the tournament with a match against Hong Kong on September 11.

Bangladesh squad for Asia Cup

Liton Das (captain), Tanjid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hasan, Towhid Hridoy, Zaker Ali Anik, Shamim Hossain Patwary, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Sheikh Mehedi, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Tanjid Hasan Shakib, Taskin Ahmed, Shariful Islam and Mohammad Saif Uddin.

Standby (Asia Cup only): Soumya Sarkar, Mehedi Hasan Miraj, Tanvir Islam and Hasan Mahmud.