Tuesday afternoon, a BCB media release ruled Mustafizur Rahman out from Bangladesh’s maiden bilateral series against the Afghans, set to start Sunday
Bangladesh left-arm paceman Mustafizur Rahman’s last-minute exclusion from the squad due to injury ahead of the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan has created confusion in the cricketing arena.
There are claims that the young pacer had hidden his injury picked up during his last game for Mumbai Indians on May 20 in the recently concluded IPL T20 2018.
There are also counter facts that Mustafizur had informed the team management of him carrying an injury.
The BCB Monday night informed that Mustafizur will not be able to travel with the team to Dehradun, India and that the status of his injury will be updated following further medical assessments.
Tuesday afternoon, a BCB media release ruled Mustafizur out from Bangladesh’s maiden bilateral series against the Afghans, set to start Sunday.
“Mustafizur was ruled out of next month’s T20I series against Afghanistan in Dehradun, India after incurring an injury to his left foot. Mustafizur had joined the national team’s training camp last week following his return from India, where he had appeared in the IPL, but complained of pain. Subsequent tests have revealed a crack on his left big toe which will sideline him for a few weeks,” said a BCB statement.
BCB’s senior physician Dr Debashish Chowdhury in the statement said, “An x-ray followed by a CT scan have confirmed a hairline fracture on the big toe. It takes around three to four weeks to recover from such injuries and therefore he (Mustafizur) can’t play against Afghanistan. We expect him to start rehab in two weeks after which we will continue to monitor and assess him.”
Earlier Sunday, Bangladesh’s interim head coach for the Afghanistan T20Is, Courtney Walsh during a press conference had raised concern over Mustafizur’s injury.
“At the moment he has a slight toe problem. He is not 100% now. We have given him a couple of days off. We want him firing when we get to India. He has improved quite a lot. His strength has come back. I think he is getting there in his pace. I think he will deliver in India. The bowlers have to put their hands up, but not just Rubel [Hossain] or Fizz. Whichever seam bowler we use, we want them to stand out. Our spinners have always been consistent,” Walsh had told the media.
The statement from Walsh had come a day after Mustafizur had reported to the national team and played the practice scenario game at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.
However, a few media reports featuring the statement from BCB officials gave birth to confusion as to whether the team management was unaware of Mustafizur’s injury.
Dhaka Tribune contacted national chief selector Minhajul Abedin, who said, “The selection panel did not have any report on Mustafizur’s injury. We always take decision based on reports from the physio. We only got to know of his injury Monday night and that he will not be available.”
Former Bangladesh captain Minhajul further explaining the situation added, “What I know is he had picked up the injury during his IPL game on May 20. He was given primary treatment but no message was relayed to Bangladesh team physio from the IPL franchise. They might have thought the injury was not severe.”
The BCB is yet to announce the replacement for Mustafizur. It is understood that a decision on the necessity of a replacement will be made by the team management in Dehradun.
Source: Dhaka Tribune.
