Bangladesh axe Soumya in further T20 overhaul

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Monday axed top-order batsman Soumya Sarkar and called up three uncapped players in a further shuffle of their squad for the ongoing tri-nation Twenty20 international at home.

Batsmen Mohammad Naim, Aminul Islam, Nazmul Hossain will join the squad for the third and fourth match of the tournament after Bangladesh's senior players failed to deliver in the first two matches.

Bangladesh were 60-6 in the opening match against Zimbabwe before somehow managing a three-wicket win while failing to recover in Sunday's second match against Afghanistan after being reduced to 32-4 and lost by 25 runs.

Soumya bore the brunt of the criticism for Bangladesh's woeful batting performance at the top, having scored just four runs in two matches.

"He did not look in a very good form. So we thought better if we could try some new players," said BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin.

Pacer Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam were also recalled while uncapped Mahedi Hasan and Yeasin Arafat were released from the squad.

Bangladesh will play their next game against Zimbabwe in Chittagong on Wednesday.

The tournament will run until September 24.

The Tigers have been facing criticism after losing the recent Test match against newcomers Afghanistan.

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Liton Das, Afif Hossain, Taijul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mohammad Naim, Aminul Islam and Nazmul Hossain.

Agence France-Presse