Bangladesh call up left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed for 2nd Test against India
Chattogram, Dec 18: Bangladesh handed a maiden Test call-up to left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed on Sunday while leaving out injured pacer Ebadot Hossain for the second red-ball fixture against India next week.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board posted the squad for second Test, scheduled to start from December 22 in Dhaka, on its Twitter handle.
Nasum, who has played four ODIs and 28 T20Is for Bangladesh, has been brought in as cover for skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who is unlikely to bowl in the second Test.
Bangladesh were two bowlers short in the 188-run loss to India in the first Test as Shakib and Hossain didn't bowl in the second innings.
While Shakib is struggling with shoulder and rib issues, Hossain has a back injury.
"He is still struggling with his shoulder and [ribcage] bruising. It left us with four bowlers - a big blow for us," head coach Rusell Domingo said at the post match press conference on Sunday.
"Ebadot broke down, so we were stuck with three bowlers. It is very difficult to balance the side at the moment," he added.
Pacer Shoriful Islam, who sustained a hamstring injury, and opener Tamim Iqbal, who is yet to recover from a groin injury, also failed to make it to the squad for the second Test.
Bangladesh squad for second Test: Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain, Mominul Haque, Yasir Ali, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Liton Das, Nurul Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Khaled Ahmed, Mahmudul Hasan and Rejaur Rahman Raja.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
