Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Liton Das on Monday (July 26) joined the list of prominent home team players who won’t be taking part in the forthcoming five-match T20I series against Australia. Das has opted out of the series due to personal reasons, confirmed Akram Khan, the BCB cricket operations chairman, to Cricbuzz.
Das was anyway not expected to be available for the first couple of games against the Aussies in Dhaka after picking up a thigh injury in Harare and missing the final two T20Is against Zimbabwe.
“Liton is expected to return home soon as he wants to be there for the family member who is sickю He was not available for the opening two T20s and we cannot say anything if someone says that he wants to be with his ailing family members.”
Akram told Cricbuzz.
Bangladesh had already lost their former skipper and batting stalwart, Mushfiqur Rahim, for the entire Australia series. The development on Rahim was confirmed when he opted out of the Zimbabwe tour midway to be with his sick parents and missed the deadline to complete the 10-day mandatory quarantine, which is necessary for any player joining the team bubble from outside for the Aussie visit.
Tamim Iqbal, the veteran opening batsman, is also set to miss the rare home series against Australia as he is set to enter a lengthy rehabilitation process for his knee injury. The process is likely to keep Tamim out of action for “at least two months”, reported Cricbuzz.
There are other injury concerns as well within the camp. Unorthodox left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahim is unavailable for the start of the Australian series because of an ankle injury he picked up during a tour match in Zimbabwe earlier this month. It is understood that even premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and Soumya Sarkar are battling niggles in their groin.
Both the Australians and the Bangladeshis will reach Dhaka after their respective tours to the Caribbean and Zimbabwe on July 29. They’ll enter a three-day room quarantine at their hotel after that. The T20I series, which is important to both the nations’ build-up towards the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman, begins on August 3 in Dhaka.
