Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) national team selection panel yesterday named prodigious left arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman in 16-member Test squad for the series against Sri Lanka, scheduled for next month.
His fellow fast bowler Rubel Hossain also made a comeback into the national team after he was ignored for the one-off Test against India in Hyderabad, which Bangladesh had lost by 208 runs.
Mustafizur did not play a Test since his debut series against South Africa in 2015 as he was recovering from different injuries and required a surgery on his shoulder last year. He made a return to the team in December-January when they were playing against New Zealand but his involvement was limited to just limited over cricket. The Fizz, as he was adorably called by the fans, proved his fitness for longer version cricket in franchise-based first class competition Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) that prompted the selectors to include the paceman who is always considered as automatic choice.
"I am really impressed with the way he bowled in the second innings in a game of BCL. I think he got back his rhythm," chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu, who announced the team in the packed news conference yesterday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, told the reporters.
“He improved enough after returning to home from New Zealand. We had suggested him playing two round of BCL. His progress assured us that he is fully fit for the five-day game.”
Experienced opener Imrul Kayes and paceman Shafiul Islam missed out the Sri Lanka Test series from the Hyderabad Test squad, revealed Nannu.
Kayes had to return to country from Hyderabad after receiving another injury setback. Shafiul didn’t get the match and the chief selector said he wasn’t enough fit to stay in the Test squad.
 “Imrul Kayes is our experienced player but unfortunately he had fallen to injury in Hyderabad. Actually his injury started from New Zealand. That’s why he is not selected,” he informed.
But he said that if he could prove his fitness after the BCL they will consider him for the second Test.
 “We took some players in New Zealand also. This is a long tour for us. There are Tests, T20s along with one day internationals. Imrul Kayes plays for us in three formats. So, there will be no problem for us to add him later,” he added.
Fast bowler Rubel Hossain played the first Test in New Zealand after coming out from a lengthy injury layoff but his performance was not up to the mark and so he missed the second Test in New Zealand and Test against India.  
“Rubel also had problems but he played three rounds of BCL one after another, where he really bowled well. He tremendously bowled in the just immediate round. I think he has every capability to deliver for Test cricket and for the country,” Nannu clarified.
With Mustafizur and Rubel coming back in to the squad, the team is now equipped with five pacers for the Sri Lanka tour with Taskin Ahmed, Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Shubashis.
Nannu said the decision to include five pacers is to be ready to face any situation.
"There might be grass on the wicket in Sri Lanka's Galle. We might have to play with three seamers if they come up with a sporting wicket.
"Since it's not possible to know now the type of the wicket, we have tried to make a squad considering all possible scenarios," he said.
Bangladesh will play two Tests at the start of the tour, one at Galle on Sri Lanka's southern coast from March 7-11 and another in the capital Colombo from March 15-19.
The second Test at Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo will be 100th Test match for Bangladesh.
They then play three 50 over internationals before facing off for two Twenty20 matches in the tour, stretching up to April 6.
Squad: Tamim Iqbal Khan, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah Riyad, Shakib Al Hasan, Musfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan Miraj, Mustafizur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Mosaddek Hossain, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Shubashis Roy and Rubel Hossain.