Bangladesh axe Mehidy, Rubel in Twenty20 squad shake-up

Bangladesh dropped off-spinner Mehidy Hasan and pace bowler Rubel Hossain in a new-look Twenty20 squad named on Tuesday for the first two matches of the tri-nations series against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, reports Agencies.
In the just-announced squad, left-handed batsman Afif Hossain and right-arm pacer Yasin Arafat Mishu earned his first call to the national squad.
Afif played his first T20 during Sri Lanka's Bangladesh tour in 2018. Six feet and one inch tall Yasin Arafat played only seven first-class and six list-A matches and took 18 and 13 wickets respectively. His best figure in list-A cricket is eight wickets for 40 runs.
All-rounder Ariful Haque, pace bowler Abu Hider, spinner Nazmul Islam and batsman Mohammad Mithun were also left out from Bangladesh's last Twenty20 squad that played the West Indies in December 2018.
Opening batter Tamim Iqbal was not included after asking for a break from international cricket.
"We want to see some players for the next Twenty20 World Cup. This is why we changed the squad," said chief selector Minhajul Abedin.
Young pace bowler Yeasin Arafat and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam received their first Twenty20 call-ups while Afif Hossain and Mahedi Hasan return after playing just one Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka in 2018.
Batsmen Sabbir Rahman and Mosaddek Hossain also received a call-up.