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While more than half the side select themselves, there are at least seven players in the 30-man provisional squad who are in contention for the last four places in the side.

Abdur Razzak's place will be under some scrutiny after he was overlooked for the T20s against Sri Lanka. The selection panel, however, will be keen to go into a major tournament with a vastly experienced left-arm spinner, particularly with Razzak's end-over skills coming into the equation. Arafat Sunny's domestic form and economical spell in the first T20 would give him an outside chance, but he will get another look in the second and final game against Sri Lanka.

Shafiul Islam could also be discussed, as he has recovered from his latest injury and bowled well in the National Cricket League recently. He may also play in the upcoming ODIs against Sri Lanka. He will be competing with Al-Amin Hossain, who has bowled decently without much success in his limited international exposure, but has domestic form, particularly in the shape of a five-wicket over in a T20, in his favor.

"We have been working on the World T20 team for the last four to six months," Faruque Ahmed, the chief selector, told ESPNcricinfo after the first T20 against Sri Lanka. "One match would not make much difference in our opinion, but we wanted to give them a feel of international cricket. Arafat Sunny bowled well today, but I think he bowled short in one over. We have a few players in our mind. Shafiul is one of them, but we have to keep an eye on everyone."

The second T20 on Friday could see Sabbir Rahman play in the middle order. The young batsman has been talked about for the last three years, ever since a last-ditch innings against Afghanistan in the Asian Games final. He has scored heavily in the shorter formats, particularly in the recent Twenty20 competitions. Mithun Ali might make way for Sabbir in the second game.

"We didn't pick three debutants in the first Twenty20 in order to keep a balance in the side because we already had five players coming into the team," Faruque said. "We picked Mithun ahead of Sabbir because the former can play shots from the word go, but Sabbir needs a bit of time at No 3 or 4 before he starts to flourish. Sabbir has a strike-rate of 130."

Farhad Reza's domestic form will keep him ahead of Ziaur Rahman, who was considered T20 material in the last World Cup but has fallen out of favour after losing form.

The selection of the World T20 team will be an early test of Faruque, who was appointed chief selector in December. He had shown plenty of gumption before the 2007 World Cup, picking a raw Mushfiqur Rahim ahead of Khaled Mashud, the country's No 1 wicketkeeper at the time. It paid off, as Mushfiqur batted well and has since flourished in international cricket. Faruque would not perhaps be required to take such bold steps yet because he has a settled squad, with a core group of players who have played together for the last five years.

But even among the settled players in this team, there are one or two who need to spruce up their game quickly. Sohag Gazi's bowling form has not been up to the mark while the likes of Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain have to weed out errors in their bowling. Mominul Haque, despite his Test form, also has to adjust quickly to the format.

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Mominul Haque stood out as the most impressive performer in these Tests, but he was not alone. Shamsur Rahman made impressive starts in all three formats while Imrul Kaves century in his comeback Test would give him confidence. Although Sohag Gazi bowled too quickly against Sri Lanka in the Tests, he was on top of things against New Zealand. Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan have also had their moments over the last five months.

Mominul's unbeaten hundred against Sri Lanka in the second Test in Chittagong, his third in the last four Tests, emphasised the importance of a solid No. 4 in the Bangladesh line-up. He has already become the highest scorer at the position for Bangladesh, with 755 runs in 13 innings, easily beating Mohammad Ashraful's 691 runs in 44 innings.

Among batsmen of the last five teams in the ICC Test rankings in the last 12 months (with a qualification of five Tests), Mominul (755) is fourth on the list of leading run-getters, behind Kumar Sangakkara (1106), Ross Taylor (910) and Kane Williamson (820). The New Zealand batsmen, however, have played 11 and 10 Tests in this period, respectively, compared to Mominul's seven.

Mominul is apathetic towards numbers and that was definitely his approach on the fifth day of the Chittagong Test when Bangladesh had to bat all day to secure a draw.

"The pressure was of the team's position in the game, absolutely," Mominul said. "The hundred was never really in my sights. The openers Tamim bhai and Shamsur bhai gave us a good start, but from the first ball I faced, it was in the business of survival. I had to kill time, so reaching fifty and hundred were not the prime concern.

"I am not too keen on statistics. I don't keep an eye on my score on most occasions. But a batsman's satisfaction does come with a milestone, especially on such a day. The team obviously comes first, so I was focused on making safety a certainty. They bowled really well at times, so it was very important that my concentration didn't break."

His immediate concern is limited-overs batting, as he averages in the twenties in both ODIs and Twenty20s. "I would not say that I am doing well in the toughest format, but I want to play all types of cricket. I want to improve my batting in different formats," he said.

Bangladesh will play two Twenty20s and three ODIs against Sri Lanka, after which they play a minimum of four ODIs in the Asia Cup from February 25. Then comes the World Twenty20, where they play three preliminary round matches against the Associate Nations and, if they qualify, another four games.

With the possible addition of ODIs against India in June, Mominul will be expected to be in the thick of things, taking responsibility of the middle-order like he has done in Test cricket.

At the same time, the new performers of the limited-overs glut will stake a claim in the Test side that will be selected subsequently. Since there is a tendency to prefer the latest performer, there should also be time to think of the pitfalls that such a thought process brings.

The most recent example was the selection of Al-Amin Hossain ahead of Robiul Islam as the lone seamer in the Chittagong Test. The explanation from Mushfiqur Rahim, that Al-Amin was picked because he was the best bowler in the previous Test, was baffling. Robiul had taken 15 wickets and bowled 110 overs in the two Harare Tests in April, but he is suddenly out of favour.

The same thing happened to Mominul during the ODI series in Zimbabwe. He batted rather slowly at No. 3 for two matches, which prompted his exclusion for the third game. His highest score in the next three ODIs, against New Zealand in October, was 32, but it remains to be seen if his Test form could help buy him time in the shorter formats.

It is a ludicrous question to ask of a batsman who has batted so well recently, but five months from now, the example of Robiul could be repeated. A broader, long-term view, a very un-BCB like characteristic, is welcome to be part of accepted wisdom in the Bangladesh team management and selection committee. 

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