Shakib, Mustafizur return for remaining Zimbabwe T20Is

All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and pacer Mustafizur Rahman will return for the last two T20 Internationlas (T20I) against Zimbabwe, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced on May 8 (Wednesday). Shakib opted out of the first three matches of the series as he wanted to play in the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) in order to be ready for international cricket.

Shakib returned to Test cricket after nearly a year when he took the field in the second Test against Sri Lanka at home. He also had an eye problem following the ODI World Cup in  India last year and was advised to rest, due to which he sat out the white-ball series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Mustafizur, on the other hand, was rested for those fixtures following his return from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, where he turned up for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Soumya Sarkar also returned to the 15-member squad after recovering from a knee injury. Shoriful Islam has been given a break, while Afif Hossain and Parvez Hossain have been excluded.

"We have given rest to Shoriful. Both team management and Shoriful felt he needed to spend time with his family. We want him to come back after recharging himself as he's been playing cricket in one stretch for a long time," selector Abdur Razzak said.

Bangladesh have already taken an unassailable lead in the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe - winning all three games in Chattogram. The action now shifts to Dhaka, where the remaining two matches will take place on May 10 (Friday) and May 12 (Sunday).

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