Bangladesh have included former captain Shakib Al Hasan in the squad for the second and final Test against Sri Lanka. The hosts are 0-1 behind in the series having lost the first Test in Sylhet by a huge margin of 328 runs and will be looking to level the series in Chattogram where the second Test will be played from March 30.
Shakib has replaced uncapped Towhi Hridoy in the squad as he makes a comeback to the form for the first time since April 2023. He featured for his country in white-ball formats since then while also playing in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) despite struggling with his eye. The only other change in the Bangladesh squad is in the fast bowling department with Hasan Mahmud replacing Musfik Hasan who sustained an ankle injury.
Coming back to Shakib, a retinal condition in the left eye kept him out of the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka. He had also visited an eye specialist in Singapore during the BPL 2024 season and didn't bat in the first few matches for his side. However, after visiting a specialist, the all-rounder had returned to batting scoring 255 runs in 11 matches at a strike-rate of 158.38 and picked up 17 wickets for Rangpur Riders.
Shakib has been in the news constantly in recent times as he also joined politics contesting the Bangladesh general elections for the Awami League party. He also won from the Magura constituency and is now a member of parliament there.
Bangladesh squad for 2nd Test vs Sri Lanka: Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Zakir Hasan, Mahmudul Hasan, Shadman Islam, Litton Das, Mominul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Nayeem Hasan, Taijul Islam, Shoriful Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud
