Injured Bangladesh’s bowling all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin, who was recently ruled out of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup due to a back injury, is most likley to miss the upcoming home series against Pakistan, scheduled to be held in November.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief physician Debashish Chowdhury has reportedly said that Saifuddin needs atleast a month’s rest before kicking-off his rehabilitation program to recover from stress fracture.
“He (Saifuddin) has a stress injury. After a month’s rest he will start his rehabilitation program,” Debashish was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Notably, the Bangla Tigers are slated to host Pakistan for three T20Is and two Tests after the completion of the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE. The two-Test match series will be part of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
Host Bangaldesh will take on Pakistan in the first T20I on november 19 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka before facing them again on November 20 and 22 at the same venue.
The first Test between the two sides will be held at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram from November 26 while the second and final Test will be staged in Dhaka’s Shere Bangla National Stadium.
Saifuddin, who returned to Dhaka on Thursday from the UAE, did not immediately commented on his injury.
Earlier, Saifuddin, 24, was replaced in the 15-man Bangladesh squad by senior fast bowler Rubel Hossain.
According to a Bangladesh team official, Saifuddin had complained of pain on the left side of his back after the last game against Sri Lanka.
“We will understand the gravity of his injury after he returns back to Bangladesh but since he cannot make a comeback in the tournament we opted for a replacement,” Rabeed Imam, senior manager media & communications of BCB was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Notably, Saifuddin had issues with his back at the 2019 World Cup as well.
Earlier, Saifuddin had scalped four wickets in the three games he played in the qualifying round of the showpiece event. He had returned with figures of 1/38 in Bangaldesh loss to Sri Lanka in the first game of the Super 12 round.
Bangaldesh also lost their second game of the Super 12 round against England by eight wickets in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
The Mohammad Mahmudullah-led Bangaldesh side will next face defending champions West Indies in Sharjah on October 29 (Friday) before taking on South Africa and Australia on November 2 and 5 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively.
After losing their two games, the Bangla Tigers are most likley out of the semi-final race.
They are currently placed fifth in the Group 1 of Super 12, a spot ahead of defending champions West Indies.
2019 ODI World Cup champions England currently tops the Group 1 charts with two wins from as many games and are followed by Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
Although Australia too, had won both their two games and have four points in their kitty like England however, the Three Lions are a place ahead based on their decent run-rate.
The two semifinals of the showpiece event will be held on November 10 and November 11 with the final to be played on November 14 in Dubai.