Bangladesh fast bowlers Rubel Hossain and Hasan Mahmud have been ruled out of the upcoming ODIs against Sri Lanka. Both the pacers are nursing back injuries at the moment and will need to undergo rehabilitation before making a comeback.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board chief selector confirmed the exclusion of the pace duo from the squad and said that they don’t want to include any player with any kind of doubt in fitness or injury. Meanwhile, BCB chief physician Debashish Chowdhury mentioned that Rubel’s injury is common in fast bowlers with long careers. They are monitoring his fitness, and surgery is going to be their last resort.
“Rubel is having an injury that usually happens to pace bowlers with a long career. When we were examining him, there was no problem, but he said that he was having discomfort, and so we decided that he should go through rehabilitation.
It will not be cured fully, but he (Rubel) needs to manage it and play. We will sit with him if the problem persists to an extent that it is unbearable and decide the further course of action. Injections should help.
Operation is our last resort,”
Chowdhury was quoted saying to Cricbuzz.
On the other hand, Hasan Mahmud has a soft tissue injury on his back, and Debashish confirmed the same. Meanwhile, the selectors announced a 21-man preliminary squad for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. Mohammad Saifuddin and Mossadek Hossain have been named in the squad after they recovered from their respective injuries.
Also, Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman, who took part in the IPL 2021 are currently underdoing strict 14-day quarantine. The BCB are yet to get a clearance for the star duo so that they can join the training camp with the rest of the squad.
The ODI series is scheduled to start on the 23rd of May, and all three matches will be played at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.
