Tushar ready for potential national call-up

Veteran Bangladesh batsman Tushar Imran has not given up hope of earning a call-up to the national side, despite being in the latter phase of his career. The in-form Prime Bank South Zone batsman has been in scintillating form in the Bangladesh Cricket League 2018, scoring 558 runs in six innings at an average of 111.6, including four centuries and a half-century. Tushar however, admitted it will be extremely tough to get into the side at the moment, given the intense competition for places in the batting order. “It is very difficult to beat the current national players in competition. They are playing cricket for a long time. I am trying my best to beat them to get a chance in the national team. In my position there are lots of great batsmen like Mushfiqur [Rahim], Mahmudullah, Shakib [al Hasan], and even Mominul [Haque]. These players are performing consistently in the national team. So it is tough to beat them. On the other hand, I am performing in the domestic league. I’m trying my best to give my 100%,” Tushar told the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur Sunday.

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Tushar has created a lot of headlines in recent times after becoming the third Bangladeshi in the history of the game to score three consecutive hundreds, following in the footsteps of Tamim Iqbal and Mizanur Rahman. The 34-year old, who is currently the highest run-scorer in the BCL, started off the tournament scoring 105 in the first round, 56 and 16 in the second, 148 in the third and finally, 130 and 103 in the fourth. “As I said, competition is really tough in my usual batting position. Maybe I should score more runs to get selected in the national team. I have a target in the domestic league. I am trying to prove myself and score as many runs as possible. If selectors think I am worthy enough to play in the national team, then I am ready,” explained Tushar, who played the last of his five Test matches, against Sri Lanka, away from home 11 years ago. “We have an A team tour ahead of us. Sri Lanka A team will come and play here. If selectors think I have to play well there to get a chance in the national team then I’m ready to take the challenge. Maybe other senior players like Shahriar Nafees, Naeem Islam or Alok Kapali would also get the chance to play for the A team. I think every senior player is ready to perform there to earn a call-up to the national team,” he added.