Rawalpindi: Bangladesh on Saturday dropped pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman and recalled Rubel Hossain for the first Test of the two-match series against Pakistan which begins in Rawalpindi next week. Mustafizur was in the two-Test series against India in November but was not picked for any of the matches due to his poor form and fitness. "Mustafiz was dropped for his poor performance. He is in and out of the team for quite some time and doesn't play longer-format matches regularly. His white-ball performances are not satisfactory," said chief selector Minhajul Abedin.

Opening batsmen Imrul Kayes, Shadman Islam and off-spinner Mehidy Hasan were also left out for injury while wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim opted out due to security concerns. Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal returned to the Test side after skipping the India series for family reason while Bangladesh also recalled batsmen Najmul Hossain and Soumya Sarkar.