Taskin Ahmed missed Bangladesh’s Super League ODI series against Ireland in May, which has hampered his preparation for the Cricket World Cup 2023.
The fast will be out for the three 50-over matches in Chelmsford starting on May 9 due to a side strain that kept him out of Bangladesh’s lone Test match against Ireland.
According to reports Mohammad Isam, Taskin has been replaced by left-armer Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, and spinner Taijul Islam has also been brought in as a like-for-like replacement for Nasum Ahmed.
Mrittunjoy, a net bowler who is a common sight in Bangladeshi home training camps, was chosen as a result of his strong performance in domestic cricket over the past two seasons in both white-ball formats. He has taken 12 wickets in this year’s List A competition being played at home, equal his total of 17 from the previous year’s competition, and 23 from the previous two Bangladesh Premier League seasons.
While Ireland needs to win all three games to maintain automatic qualifying for India 2023, Bangladesh has a great opportunity to hone their skills ahead of the Cricket World Cup given that they have already qualified thanks to their successful Super League campaign.
With three victories, Ireland would tie South Africa for last place in the automatic qualification standings with 98 points. The sides would also be tied in terms of victories, which would require Ireland to decrease its net run rate from -0.382 to -0.076 or better in order to pass the Proteas. Teams who placed 9th through 13th in the Super League go to the ten-team Cricket World Cup Qualification in Zimbabwe, which gets underway on June 18.
