Dhaka, September 2: Bangladesh has announced its 15-member T20 squad for the upcoming in Japan, featuring the return of Najmul Hossain Shanto and fast bowler Hasan Mahmood.
Litton Das will lead the team as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
Litton missed Bangladesh’s recent T20 series against Zimbabwe and Australia due to injury but is back to take on captaincy responsibilities ahead of this multi-sport event.
Shanto is making his comeback in the shortest format after playing against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last May. The top-order batsman struggled in T20s, failing to score a half-century in 19 innings, which led to Litton taking over the captaincy. Recently, Shanto helped Bangladesh achieve its historic first Test win in Australia and scored a total of 355 runs, including a century and a half-century, in the last Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) season.
Fast bowler Hasan Mahmood also returns to the national T20 team after playing in last year’s tour of Pakistan, where he took three wickets at an economy rate of 11.30 across three matches. Mahmood was named ‘Player of the Match’ alongside Shanto in the Darwin Test victory.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan and Abdul Gaffar Saklain have been dropped from the team, while fast bowler Nahid Rana could not secure a spot due to a side strain.
The Bangladesh team will compete directly in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Asian Games against India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and host Japan. They will kick off their campaign on September 28 against the Group B winners. Bangladesh secured a bronze medal in the previous edition of the games.
Bangladesh Team: Litton Das (Captain), Tanzid Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Saif Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Mosaddek Hossain, Yasir Ali, Rishad Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmood.