As it was predicted, there was hardly any surprise in Bangladesh 15-member T20 squad, which the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced yesterday for the three-match T20 International series against Afghanistan in next month.

The notable inclusion was Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, a player regarded as highly talented but got few chances to prove his mettle. The Mymensingh-born lad last played T20 internationals last year in Sri Lanka, and this is his first senior call-up since being dropped after the first Test against Sri Lanka in February.

“Mosaddek has been called up as the back up of Mehidy Hasan Miraj who still is not hundred percent fit. He is improving rapidly but we don’t want to take any risk. That’s why we picked up Mosaddek, considering his all-round prowess,” said chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu.

“What we understand is that he has got back his rhythm. He has the skill and talent and so we have no reservation to pick him up.”

Batsman Imrul Kayes, paceman Taskin Ahmed and wicket-keeper Nurul Hasan lost their place from the squad that played their previous international assignment in Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka in March. While Kayes and Sohan didn’t get a single match in that tour, Taskin was not up to the mark, conceding runs in abundance.

“Taskin also has slight injury problem which he was carrying before the Nidahas Trophy. He has been in rehab. Hopefully he will be fully fit ahead of the series against West Indies,” Abedin said.

“We have two wicket-keepers in Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim in the team and both are good as batsman. So there is no place for Sohan but we have plan with him. There is West Indies series coming up. Both Imrul Kayes and Sohan will be needed for that series, so we dropped them for the time being for this series. In shorter version like T20, it is almost impossible to judge any player in fact.”

Batsman Soumya Sarkar, who made just 50 runs in five innings in the Nidahas Trophy, and seamers Abu Jayed - who didn't get a game in the Nidahas Trophy - and Abu Hider Rony - who didn't have an impact in the one game he played - have been retained.

"We also had a question about Soumya but the captain (Shakib Al Hasan) and coach (Courtney Walsh) thought that it would be better to add him," he informed.

The chief selector said they didn’t consider picking up any fresh faces given that they need a suitable combination for the format since Bangladesh will be playing a lot of T20 matches in the coming days.

“There is a chance to pick up new players but at the same time there is ranking issue. We need to improve our rankings. Moreover we need a good combination for the T20 cricket. After the Nidahas Trophy we got a combination and so we wanted to stick to that. There is lot of T20 matches coming up. And we want to be a force to be reckoned with in this format.”

Bangladesh will play Afghanistan on June 3, 5 and 7 in Dehradun, in what is the teams' first-ever bilateral T20 match-up.

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan  (Captain), Mahmudullah Riyad (Vice-Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Ariful Haque, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nazmul Islam Apu, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider Rony, Rubel Hossain, Abu Jayed Rahi

Standby: Nurul Hasan Sohan, Abul Hasan Raju, Nayeem Hasan