The selection panel, led by Faruque Ahmed, made three changes from the squad that played in the recently concluded Zimbabwe trip.

Veteran opener Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh and left-arm paceman Syed Rasel were recalled to replace Tushar Imran, Mehrab Hossain and seaming all-rounder Mohammad Sharif.

The most controversial matter in the selection, however, was the exclusion of former Bangladesh skipper Mashud who led the country in the 2003 World Cup in South African after playing in the Tigers' maiden World Cup campaign in 1999 in England.

The 30-year old stumper lost his place to young wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, who has impressed the selectors by playing just two good innings during Bangladesh's 3-1 series victory against Zimbabwe. The selectors considered Rahim's batting ahead of Mashud.

Left-handed opener Tamim Iqbal, nephew of former Bangladesh captain Akram Khan and brother of out-of-favour national opener Nafis Iqbal, was the other young guy in the squad.

Among the squad, only Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Tapash Baisya, Mohammad Rafique and Mashrafee-bin Mortuza have the experience of playing a World Cup.

Bangladesh, pitted against two former world champions in Group B, will take on India on March 17, Sri Lanka on March 21 and qualifiers Bermuda on March 25. The Tigers, expected to fly for the West Indies on February 19, will play lead-up games against New Zealand (March 6) and Scotland (March 8) in Barbados following a two-week preparation camp.

SQUAD
Habibul Bashar (captain), Shahriar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Sakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafee-bin-Mortuza, Shahadat Hossain, Tapash Baisya, Syed Rasel, Rajin Saleh and Javed Omar.