Bangladesh batsman Afif Hossain has got a reality check in the form of his exclusion from the squad for the deciding third ODI against Ireland at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on March 23.
IRELAND TOUR OF BANGLADESH, 2023
Afif, Shoriful excluded from squad for final Ireland ODI
Afif has struggled with poor form for alarmingly long, and the team management has decided to send him back to the Dhaka Premier League to regain form. © Getty
Along with Afif, the team management also released pacer Shoriful Islam to take part in the ongoing Dhaka Premier League for their respective teams and work on their 50-over game.
The exclusion of Afif from the ODI squad for the Ireland game came on the back of his exclusion from the last T20I game against England that brought about the end of his long rope in the shortest format.
Afif was part of all the 66 T20Is that Bangladesh played since his debut before missing the last game against England due to bad form. He currently holds the record of playing maximum number of T20Is on a trot for Bangladesh, going past Mahmudullah tally of 54 consecutive T20Is from November 15, 2015 to March 30, 2021.
The arrival of Towhid Hridoy in the scene and Shakib's demotion down the order across white-ball formats also had an impact, as Afif failed at the top of the order in the shortest format. At the moment, the management seems more interested in seeing Yasir Ali as the finisher in ODIs - the role previously held by Afif.
A member of the national selection committee confirmed Afif Hossain has left the team after being excluded from the ODI squad.
"Yes, he's headed back to Dhaka. The squad has been reduced to 14 members from 15," said a member of the selection panel. "There is no specific reason for his exclusion apart from the fact his chances of being in the eleven are slim."
'We wanted to have a 14-member squad initially and since we don't have injury concerns he has been sent back to play there in the DPL.'
It was reported in Prothom Alo, Bangladesh's leading Bengali daily, that Afif did not shy away from showing his disappointment to head coach Chandika Hathurusingha after the last T20I against England at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on March 14.
Hathurusingha ahead of the ODI series against Ireland told the media that the left-handed batsman needed to regain his form in order to earn back his place in the white-ball format.
"Afif didn't have the best series that he wished for, and we wanted to see. He has to get back to his best form that he has shown before," Hathurusingha told reporters while explaining his stand on Afif, who scored 542 runs in 25 games, averaging 31.88 with a strike rate of 88.13 that included three half-centuries.
However, along the way, he showed potential to play at number seven in the ODI format. The southpaw made his
