Bangladesh received another injury scare ahead of the World Cup after pacer Mustafizur Rahman was advised rest for two weeks on Thursday due to an ankle injury he sustained the previous evening. Bangladesh have some major injury concerns ahead of the Ireland tour as some of their major stars are going through rehabilitation program.
Mustafizur joins the ever-growing injury list that already comprises of Mahmudullah, Rubel Hossain and Mehedy Hassan along with Saifuddin. “Mustafizur injured his left ankle yesterday and after going through his x-ray report we suggested him to take rest for two weeks,’‘ BCB’s chief physician Debashsish Chowdhury told reporters at Mirpur on Thursday.
“Though there is no fracture, he had sustained an ankle sprain and as a result he will have to rest for at least two weeks to recover,” he said. “In the meantime, we will be changing the tape on his leg.”
Mustafizur, who featured in the Dhaka Premier League after a gap of four years, picked up three wickets in his 6.5 over spell for Shine Pukur to show glimpses of returning to form, but it was unfortunately short-lived. He appeared in DPL just to get some match practice ahead of the Ireland tri-nation series as his fitness remained a major concern for the team management.
Bangladesh opted not to put any extra workload and refrained from fielding him in the opening Test of the three-match series after his stint in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand. Though he appeared in the second Test, he bowled only 14 overs and Bangladesh head coach insisted that he wanted his premier fast bowler to remain fresh ahead of the global tournament.
The injury now means that Mustafizur will not be available from the start of Bangladesh’s preparatory camp for the Ireland series, that is scheduled to start from April 22. “Naturally, he will be in rehabilitation when the preparation camp starts but we are expecting him to start his skill training once the rehabilitation is completed,” he said.
Injuries have continued to haunt the young bowler since he picked up a shoulder strain in England in 2016 early into his career while playing the T20 Blast. In 2017, he sustained a grade-two lateral ankle injury while warming up with a football drill on the tour of South Africa, an injury that caused him to miss the start of BPL 2017. During his latest injury-forced absence, Bangladesh were swept 3-0 by Afghanistan in a T20I series in Dehradun and later thrashed by Windies in the two Tests in the Caribbean.
