Mustafizur Rahman’s concern with shoulder injury re-emerged after the left-arm paceman tried to bring variation to his bowling repertoire. According to the Bangladesh Cricket Board's chief physician Dr Debashish Chowdhury, Mustafizur’s experiment in an attempt to bring more variations may have caused the latest shoulder injury.
The first time Mustafizur was troubled by the shoulder was during the Asia Cup Twenty20 earlier this year. The injury ruled out the Bangladesh pacer for a few matches in the tournament and his troubles continued as the Satkhira lad was forced to the bench in the first few matches of the 2016 World T20.
“It’s tough to say anything without observing him in person. But from what I know, he tried something new, tried some new deliveries while he was practising in the country. He felt pain at that time and we stopped him then and there,” said Debashish.
“Probably, after being fit completely, he thought he could try that again. He is such a bowler who always wants to know and add something to his arsenal,” the BCB physician added.
Meanwhile, BCB director and national team manager Khaled Mahmud echoed similar sentiments to that of Debashish.
“He is completely different to the others. He took the world by storm all of a sudden and had to bowl more deliveries than others. There was huge expectation on him and it may have prompted him to work more on his bowling. Maybe he was trying to bring up variations in his slower cutter so that it might get more mysterious for the opposition batsmen,” said Mahmud.
“He is very clever and matured, unlike his age. He very well knows that everybody in the international circuit closely monitors his bowling regularly. That’s why he was working with his variations which may have resulted in his latest injury.
“As far as I know, his injury isn’t serious. He just feels pain. But if the injury is serious, he should stay in England because there he would get the best treatment. If needed, the BCB would give him the support to get him fully fit,” added the former Bangladesh captain.
Sussex in their next game will lock horns with Hampshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup on Wednesday.