Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim to skip West Indies tour for Hajj pilgrimage

Mushfiqur Rahim will skip next month's West Indies tour to perform Hajj, while pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman has been recalled for the Test series. Bangladesh will travel to the West Indies for two Tests, three Twenty20 internationals and three one-day internationals from June 16 to July 16. "Mushfiqur has asked for a leave to perform Hajj and his wish has been granted," Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury told AFP in reference to the Islamic pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Left-arm pace bowler Mustafizur has not played a Test match since February 2021 but has remained a vital cog in Bangladesh's limited-over sides. He has been recalled to the Test series in the absence of Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed, who both are sidelined with injury. Shoriful, however, was included in the Twenty20 international and one-day international sides.

Taskin was included for ODIs, which will be held at the final leg of the tour. Batsman Anamul Haque was also recalled to T20I and ODI sides for his prolific form in domestic cricket. Anamul made 1,138 runs in the recent Dhaka Premier League, the highest by any batsman in a single List A competition in history.

Pace bowler Mohammad Saifuddin also returned to Twenty20I and ODI sides after recovering from injury. The first Test of the series will be held at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua from June 16 to 20. Saint Lucia will host the second Test from June 24-28.

The first two T20Is will be held in Dominica on July 2 and 3 while the third T20I will be held in Guyana on July 7. Guyana will host all three ODIs, respectively on July 10, 13 and 16. Test squad:Mominul Haque (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudul Hasan, Najmul Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Mosaddek