Apart from him, left-handed opening batter Parvez Hossain Emon and left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan have also been called up to the squad, while Soumya Sarkar has been left out. Mehidy has been a consistent performer in Tests and ODIs for Bangladesh in over a year, which has propelled his return to T20Is 14 months since his last appearance in the shortest format.

This will be Bangladesh’s first series without the services of their star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who announced retirement from the format ahead of the second Test against India at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.

The three T20Is between Bangladesh and India will be played at Gwalior, New Delhi, and Hyderabad on October 6, 9, and 12 respectively. The T20I series opener will be the first time Gwalior’s Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium hosts an international game.

It will also mark the return of Gwalior as an international cricket hosting venue since the India-South Africa game in 2010, where the legendary Sachin Tendulkar became the first male cricketer to hit a double century in ODIs.

The last time Bangladesh toured India in the shortest format, it was in 2019, where they lost the three-match T20I series 2-1. The previous meeting between the two teams in this format happened in the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, when Hardik Pandya’s unbeaten fifty along with Kuldeep Yadav’s 3-19 got India a 50-run win over Bangladesh at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua.

Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (Captain), Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, Tawhid Hridoy, Mahmud Ullah, Litton Kumer Das, Jaker Ali Anik, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Rakibul Hasan.