The New Nation - Internet Edition

bdnews, Chittagong

Middle order batsman Rajin Saleh has staged a comeback in the Bangladesh Test fold, after a year away, as national selectors announced a 13-member squad on Tuesday for the two-Test series against visitors New Zealand.

The first Test is scheduled for Oct 17-21 in Chittagong, while the capital's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium will host the second and final test from Oct 25.

Of the 14-member one-day squad, Mahmudullah and Imrul Kayes were dropped, while Rajin, who played his last Test against Sri Lanka in July 2007, was included in the side.

Rajin, who struck 135 runs for Sylhet in the National Cricket League four-dayer opener on Sunday, has scored 1,115 runs in 16 Test innings with an average of 27.19 runs.

Despite the dropped Mahmudullah and Kayes, the Test squad still has two new faces in all-rounder Nayeem Islam and pacer Mahbubul Alam Robin.

Nayeem made his ODI debut against New Zealand, while Robin has yet to play in either ODI or Test.

Squad: Tamim Iqbal, Junaed Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan, Nayeem Islam, Mushfiqur Rahim, Rajin Saleh, Mehrab Hossain Jr, Mashrafee Bin Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain and Mahbubul Alam Robin.