Dashing middle-order batsman Tushar Imran and right-arm paceman Nazmul Hossain were the only notable absentees in the otherwise unchanged list of probables as they were included in Bangladesh A team to play three one-dayers against their Sri Lankan counterparts.

"They were out of the list only because of their commitments with the A side to play three one-dayers. Actually it is completely an unchanged squad but this time I can assure you that we will be flexible. We can call one or two players out of the list if we feel the need to do so at any time during the tour," said chief selector Faruque Ahmed yesterday.

The Tigers start their preparation today at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur under the supervision of Dav Whatmore to face the toughest challenge ever against the world champions, who have already announced a full-strength side for their first ever tour to Bangladesh.

Ricky Ponting's "Invincibles" will arrive in the capital on April 6. The first Test start on April 9 in Dhaka while the second Test takes place in Chittagong from April 16 to April 20.

The national selectors have kept faith with wicketkeeper-cum-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, who played the second Test against Sri Lanka last month in Bogra although he was not in the preliminary squad.

"He might have failed against Sri Lanka but we still believe that he has the potential to serve the country in the longer-version game. We are trying to find a solid combination -- that's why we went for the same team," said Faruque.

"True we were not fully successful against Sri Lanka in the home series but there were many positives. I think our one-day team has taken a shape following our performances in the last couple of months but we still have to work hard for the longer-version," he added.

Captain Habibul Bashar expressed his satisfaction over the unchanged squad as he thought there was no scope to make any experiments against a team like Australia.

"I think there is hardly any reason to bring changes in the team or call-up new players because we have been playing good cricket for the last few months. Yes, once again I want to say that it would have been nice if we had a very good off-spinner in the squad but there is no one to fill this desire," said Bashar.

SQUAD
Habibul Bashar (capt.), Khaled Mashud, Nafees Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Aftab Ahmed, Shahriar Nafees, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammed Rafique, Manjarul Islam Rana, Mashrafee Bin Mortuza, Tapash Baisya, Enamul Haque, Abdur Razzak Raj, Syed Rasel and Shahadat Hossain.