Bangladesh One-Day International (ODI) captain Mashrafe Mortaza on Friday revealed that he was aware of the inclusion of Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes for the remainder of the Asia Cup 2018.

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After Tamim Iqbal was ruled out with an injury, Bangladesh opted for a new opening pair with Liton Das and Nazmul Hossain. However, their inability to provide good starts in the Asia Cup has forced the selectors to pick the seasoned campaigners.

So far in the Asia Cup 2018, both Liton and Nazmul have not crossed the double-digit mark and Bangladesh in their previous match suffered a heavy defeat against a lower-ranked Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Mortaza said he was not sure why Sarkar and Kayes were called because according to him they still had not rectified their technical flaws which had caused their axing from the team in the first place.

“They were out of the team in the same way... by not performing. Now they are returning to the team in such conditions and such pressure. I do not know what they technical aspects they've worked on. Whether they are fixing the problems - which put them out of the team - or not, these things will matter a lot in this tournament.

"And especially if you think [about] Afghanistan's match, they [newly added batsmen] have to deal with more difficult bowlers. It surely won't be easy for anyone. Everything is difficult in international cricket," he said.

The Bangladeshi skipper also slammed the opening batsmen to allow the pressure to reach the middle-order, explaining that it was not fair to expect the middle-order batsmen to bail you from a crisis situation.

“Middle-order batsmen have to build the innings when wicket falls early. It is difficult to always expect from the middle-order. Losing two [early] wickets in such matches, creates a lot of pressure on the middle order.

"We've suffered a batting collapse in two consecutive matches. But I still think we aren't out of the tournament. There are definitely opportunities for us to come back. We are getting a day, we will have regroup and play the next match," Mortaza added.