Tamim Iqbal named Bangladesh skipper for Lanka tour: Details here
What's the story
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has named Tamim Iqbal as the team's interim skipper for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. The series is starting from July 26 onwards. The decision was taken after regular skipper Mashrafe Mortaza was ruled out due to a hamstring injury. Mortaza had sustained the injury in a training session. Here's more.
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'Mortaza will take 3-4 weeks to recover'
"Mortaza injured his left hamstring during training today. He received immediate MSK ultrasound examination which has revealed a grade 1 injury. It is a recurrent injury that could take around three to four weeks to recover from." senior physician Debashis Chowdhury said.
Situation
Shakib rested, injured Saifuddin to miss out
Bangladesh's veteran cricketer and vice-captain Shakib Al Hasan, who stole the show with his all-round performance in the recently concluded ICC World Cup 2019, has been rested for this series. As a result, the decision to make Tamim the skipper was taken. Besides Mortaza and Shakib, promising pacer Mohammad Saifuddin will also miss the series. The right-arm pacer aggravated an old back injury.
Information
Key info about the ODI series as Bangladesh name replacements
The Tigers will play three ODI matches in Sri Lanka on July 26, 28 and 31. The three ODI matches will be held in R Premadasa Stadium (Colombo). Meanwhile, pacer Taskin Ahmed and all-rounder Farhad Reza were called up as replacements for Mortaza and Saifuddin.
Mortaza
Rumors around Mortaza's retirement taking shape
There has been rumors regarding Mortaza's retirement from the game. The senior cricketer didn't have a strong World Cup show and picked up just one scalp. Mortaza analyzed the situation and played down the retirement talks. He stated that he doesn't feel embarrassed or disappointed with talks of his retirement. Mortaza has taken 266 wickets in 217 ODIs for Bangladesh.
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It's normal, retirement questions will be raised: Mortaza
"Being a player I could not deliver my best in CWC 19, both as a captain and a player and the team also failed to go to the semi-final. So it's normal the question will be raised. There's is nothing else to consider," he concluded.