Thirty four-year-old Shuvagata Hom, who played his last Test against England back in 2016, was re-called to Bangladesh's 21-member preliminary Test squad announced for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour yesterday.

The selectors also included three uncapped pacers -- Shoriful Islam, Mukidul Islam and Shohidul Islam – following their impressive performances with the high-performance unit recently.

In absence of star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who has already taken leave for the Indian Premier League, the team management wants to rely on Shuvagata as a batting all-rounder who can bowl off-spin.

Left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman, too, will be unavailable for the two-Test series along with young pacer Hasan Mahmud, who had to return to the country from New Zealand after the ODI series due to an injury.

Shoriful

Soumya Sarkar, who was included in the second Test against West Indies earlier this year as a replacement for injured Shakib, was dropped from the Test side. Experienced Mahmudullah Riyad, who was dropped from the Test side last year, was not considered for the tour either.

Mainly a batting all-rounder, Shuvagata made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in 2011. But his role changed in 2014 as management started to consider him as an off-spinner who batted down the order.

Questions started to rise over his role in the playing eleven as the Tigers' former coach Chandika Hathurusingha labelled him as the best off-spinner in the country.

Shuvagata was eventually dropped after he scored just one fifty and picked up eight wickets in eight Tests five years ago. According to chief selector Minhajul Abedin, the team management is considering Shuvagata as a batting all-rounder this time.

An experienced campaigner in domestic circuit, Shuvagata scored 5268 runs and picked up 213 wickets in 58 first class matches. He was also in fine form in the Bangabandhu National Cricket League, scoring a century and bagging six wickets in the second round match.

"Shuvagata is coming back after a while but he has been a consistent performer in first class cricket. We have considered him as a batting all-rounder but his off-break is pretty handy and gives us an option in the spin department," said Minhajul.

Shahidul

The Bangladesh team will depart for Sri Lanka on April 12 and then they will travel to Negombo to complete a mandatory room-quarantine for three days.

The team will start training under quarantine protocols on April 15 before taking part in an inter-squad warm-up match on April 17 and 18 at Katunayake. The final squad will be announced following this warm-up match.

The first of the two-match Test series begins on April 21 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy, followed by the second Test from April 29 at the same venue.

PRELIMINARY SQUAD

Mominul Haque, Liton Das, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Shadman Islam, Abu Jayed Rahi, Taijul Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mehedi Hassan Miraz, Nayeem Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Saif Hassan, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Shoriful Islam, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Mukidul Islam Mugdho, Shuvagata Hom, Shohidul Islam, Nurul Hasan Sohan