Rony Talukdar named in Bangladesh's T20I squad for England series, returns after eight-year absence

Bangladesh has made five changes to their T20I squad for their upcoming matches against England.

Rony Talukdar returns to the squad after an eight-year absence, Shamim Hossain returns after a two-year absence, and Towhid Hridoy, Rejaur Rahman, and Tanvir Islam receive their first T20I call-ups.

This season's Bangladesh Premier League saw success for all five new additions. Talukdar's only international appearance came in a T20I against South Africa in 2015, but he was the BPL's second highest run-getter this year, with 425 runs at a strike rate of 129.17, and he helped Rangpur Riders reach the second qualifier. Towhid made the ODI squad after scoring 403 runs at a strike rate of 140 in the BPL, finishing third in the tournament.

Shamim only batted 175 times at a strike rate of 135.65, but his 71 in the BPL eliminator for Riders helped him earn a recall. Shamim has long been regarded as a future T20 batsman for Bangladesh, and the selectors have been a little more patient with him this time around.

Tanvir, the BPL's joint-highest wicket-taker, had 17 wickets at an average of 17.58 to help Comilla Victorians win their fourth title. Rejaur took 13 wickets for 19.84 runs each.

Yasir Ali, Ebadot Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Shoriful Islam, and Soumya Sarkar were all left out of the T20I squad after being part of the squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia last year. Yasir, Mosaddek, and Soumya did not make significant contributions in the BPL, and Ebadot and Shoriful did not play enough to be considered.

Following the ongoing ODI series, Bangladesh will play three T20Is against England in Chattogram and Mirpur.

Bangladesh squad for first two T20Is against England: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nasum Ahmed, Nurul Hasan, Shamim Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Towhid Hridoy, Rejaur Rahman, Tanvir Islam