In a massive blow ahead of the challenging first One-Day International match against South Africa, Bangladesh pace spear-head Mustafizur Rahman has been ruled out of the series-opener, scheduled to be played at Kimberley on Sunday (October 15). The left-arm pacer is also doubtful for the remainder of the series after picking up an ankle injury during training.
Bangladeshi news outlet, The Daily Star has reported that the fast-bowler twisted his ankle while warming up during a practice session on Saturday and is set to undergo a scan to determine the extent of his injury.
“Mustafizur twisted his ankle during warm-up before training. He won’t play tomorrow,” Minhajul Abedin, the Bangladesh chief selector and team manager, told The Daily Star.
“We can’t tell yet if he will be available for the rest of the series. We’ll know more after we go to Cape Town [for the second ODI in Paarl], we haven’t done a scan yet,” he added.
Mustafizur’s absence is a huge blow for the beleaguered Bangladesh team, but they will be bolstered by the return of senior players Mashrafe Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh sorely missed the presence of Shakib in the recently-concluded Test series. The all-rounder has taken an indefinite break from the longest format of the game.
The hosts thoroughly outplayed the visitors in the two-Test series. The Tigers lost the first game by 333 runs before being thrashed by an innings and 253 runs in the second match. Well, they will be hoping that their fortunes changes with the change in format and arrival of some big players as they gear up to take on South Africa in the three-ODI series.
Meanwhile, the ODI series will be followed by a two-match T20 International series. The matches will be played in Bloemfontein and Potchefstroom on October 26 and 29 respectively.
Bangladesh squad for the ODI series:
Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan