Bangladesh decided to rest star -rounder Shakib Al Hasan but retained skipper Mashrafe Mortaza for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka later this month.

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam replaces Shakib while top-order batsman Anamul Haque comes in for batsman Liton Das, who has been rested for ‘personal reasons’.

“Now that the World Cup chapter is over, we are starting a new season. This series is very important for us,” selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu was quoted as saying by AFP.

“We didn’t make big changes from the World Cup squad. As we don’t have Shakib and Liton, we included two players in their places and dropped one player,” he said.

Bangladesh finished eighth in the 2019 World Cup after just three wins – against South Africa, West Indies and Afghanistan.

Bangladesh Cricket Board sacked coach Steve Rhodes after the team returned home last week and said it will not renew the contract of bowling coach Courtney Walsh.

Mashrafe claimed just one wicket in eight World Cup matches but the board has kept faith in him.

Bangladesh will be the first team to tour Sri Lanka since the deadly attacks in which 258 people were killed. The teams will play three one-day internationals on July 26, 28 and 31 in Colombo.

SQUAD

Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarker, Anamul Haque, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mosaddek Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman.