The national selectors will trim Bangladesh’s list of probables today for the ICC Champions Trophy to be held in October-November in India.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) submitted a 30-member mandatory list to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on August 9 but they have decided to cut it short before the start of the preparation, which will begin from August 29.
There is likely to be an 18-member preliminary squad for the second biggest tournament after the World Cup.
“We will submit a ‘cut short’ list tomorrow to the board. I can’t say anything about the exact number of the squad but it will be of 18 to 20 members,” said chief selector Faruque Ahmed yesterday.
Although Faruque denied to make any comment on whether there would be any surprise name in the list, it was learnt that one or two is not unlikely after Sakib Al Hasan and Forhad Reza’s good performances in the recently concluded Zimbabwe-Kenya tour.
Under the new format Bangladesh will play the preliminary round of the fifth version of the meet along with Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
As per ICC desire, the cricket board must send a 14-member final squad by the first week of September.
Meanwhile, Faruque informed that they will announce the team for the six-a-side tournament to be held in Pakistan in mid-September, within short time.
“There will be a number of national players in the squad besides some young guys,” he added.