Mustafizur Rahman will have to prove fitness for India Tests, says chief selector Minhajul Abedin
Bangladesh cricket teamās chief selector Minhajul Abedin said that Mustafizur Rahman will have to play the second round of NCL and prove his fitness to get selected in the squad that will tour India. The left-arm pacer had suffered an ankle injury which ruled him out of the opening round of NCL.
Mustafizur will be returning from his injury in the second round of the NCL when his side Khulna Division will face Rajshahi Division. The Bangladesh Cricket Board claimed that the national players will have to play at least two editions of the NCL to get in consideration for the India Tests, and thus the Fizz will be judged by the amount of strain he can handle in the longer format of the NCL.Ā Ā Ā
"He (Mustafizur) will have to prove his fitness in the NCL game to be considered for the upcoming Test series against India," Abedin told reporters at the BCB premises, reported Cricbuzz.
"The physio had given us some guidelines. He was supposed to play from the very first match. However, because he has some minor problem with his ankle, he was not able to take the full load and therefore, was unable to play the first match (of the NCL)," he added.
Abedin further said that the Fizz has been given certain guidelines to guide him as he goes through his recovery process and also cleared out that his selection will purely be the team managementās call.
"He is in the recovery phase now. We have to assess how many overs he can bowl. I have been given a guideline that he cannot bowl more than 15 overs (per day) in the upcoming match and so we will consider that and subsequently assess his fitness during the four-day games.This (his selection) is completely the decision of team management," he said.Ā
"We don't work in the field. There is fitness trainer, bowling coach, who will judge whether he can bowl in back-to-back matches and how many overs he can bowl," Abedin added.
Abedin also stressed on the importance of managing workloads of fast bowlers and expressed his concern over the injuries to some of his main bowling options.Ā He also feels that the recent tour of Sri Lanka A has been beneficial for the team as they faced testing conditions and performed well and believes this experience would help them in tackling the mighty Indians.Ā
"We were really concerned about our pace bowlers, because right now, there are many players who are unavailable due to injury. If I make a list of ten players, then five of them will be on the injury list," said Abedin.
"We haven't been getting results that are up to the mark on away tours. The players who have gone there (Sri Lanka), played really well. This experience abroad, I hope, will help in India, because we haven't been able to replicate our home performances abroad," he signed off.