Kayes has been excluded despite scoring heavily at the end of last year. © Getty

A perplexed Imrul Kayes has slammed the national selectors over a lack of communication following his ODI axe for the tour of New Zealand. Bangladesh are scheduled to play three ODIs and three Tests in New Zealand next month and the likes of Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das were favoured over Kayes for the 50-over games with the Asian giants facing a selection conundrum at the top of the order.

''I am playing like this for the last 10 years. I really don't know whether I will be included in the next series despite performing well,'' Kayes stated. "Nowadays I don't even expect anything. I remain mentally prepared so that if any chance arises in the national team I can go and perforrm."

Post his comeback, Kayes not only scored an unbeaten 72 against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup last year batting at number six, a spot he isn't accustomed to, he also hit two centuries and a 90 in the home series against Zimbabwe. In the following series against Windies, Kayes registered scores of 4 and 0 before getting dropped for the final game. With the likes of Liton and Sarkar also scoring heavily, there is competition for spots in the top order. Kayes is now looking to hear from the selectors regarding his non-inclusion so that he can work on his game accordingly.

"If they had clarified me regarding my lack of form I could have worked on it and tried to better myself," the 31-year-old pointed out. "I think it is better if they (selection panel) clarify me about my position. It would be helpful for me if I know why I am not in the national team. Perhaps they are not considering me because of team combination because perhaps they are thinking there are too many batsmen on one position so they don't require me."

Regular opener Tamim Iqbal sympathised with Kayes over his exclusion and felt that the senior batsman could have been left out for the sake of team balance. ''Naturally you can say he is unlucky,'' Tamim noted. "He scored over 350 runs in a series and was dropped after failing to deliver in two games. Its cricket and at times you have to make ways for the balance of the team. Perhaps the coach and selectors had him in their mind but had to exclude him due to the combination,''