Bangladesh cricket team director Khaled Mahmud strongly condemned left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman’s tendency of not playing Test cricket for Bangladesh.
Former Bangladesh captain and now a Bangladesh Cricket Board director, Mahmud emphasized that Mustafizur is not a senior cricketer with the luxury of choosing to play particular formats of cricket for the country and also that the national team are in need of the best fast bowlers in red-ball cricket.
Bangladesh star bowler Mustafizur has been in hot water for his commitment towards white-ball cricket only.
The issue has now amplified with Bangladesh preparing to host Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series with injury concerns in the fast-bowling department while Mustafizur is busy playing the ongoing Indian Premier League Twenty20 for Delhi Capitals.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan on many occasions spoke on giving liberty to the cricketers of choosing their preferable format of cricket.
Mahmud however, differed from the opinion saying the option was given only to the senior cricketers like Shakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah.
“Papon bhai [BCB president Nazmul] told us to discuss with the cricketers the formats they want to play but it was only for the senior cricketers, not for everyone. Now if a player like [Mahmudul Hasan] Joy comes up to say he only wants to play ODI and not Test cricket, it doesn’t look right. How old is Mustafizur and how long has he played for Bangladesh? He is not Shakib, Tamim or Mushfiq who have given a lot for the country playing the three formats for so many years,” said Mahmud to the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Saturday.
“It is important to play for the country and there is nothing bigger than playing Test cricket. It might be that you earn more in white-ball cricket but Test cricket has its own value. Cricket started with Test cricket. I do not know why Mustafizur doesn’t want to play this format. The board is to decide who will play which format. You cannot tell your office that you can only work on this or that. You are an employee. The president had always given the option to choose to the senior cricketers only,” Mahmud added.
Mahmud during the conversation with the media pressed on the technical part of Mustafizur’s need in Bangladesh Test squad.
“We simply do not have enough fast bowlers in Test. It is only Ebadat [Hossain], Taskin [Ahmed], Shariful [Islam], Khaled [Ahmed] and Abu Jayed. Mustafizur is the best fast bowler we have. He is better in all aspects. Now Taskin is injured. We are left without one of our best bowlers in the Sri Lanka series. Shariful is injury prone too. Taskin and Shariful are players who can get injured any moment. Mustafizur would have helped us balance the XI. We would have had an option in him. It is tough to play all the matches given the hectic schedule, so having option would allow us to rotate the players,” said Mahmud.
Mustafizur last played a Test match for Bangladesh in February 2021 in a home series against South Africa.
The left-arm fast bowler then opted out of a red-ball contract citing bio-bubble fatigue and after the BCB decided to introduce format-wise contracts.
Subsequently, he has missed the one-off Test against Zimbabwe and two-match series against Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa and is unlikely to play the longest format again.
Mustafizur, while speaking to the media a couple of weeks back, claimed that he is willing to speak to the board in order to explain his stance on opting out of Test cricket.
Mustafizur had further stated that it will help him extend his international career.
“For me staying healthy is important. If I want to give my services to the Bangladesh team for a long time, then staying fit is important and to remain fit I feel the best way is to pick and choose between three formats,” said Mustafizur.
“I chose my format taking my success into consideration and according to records I have more success in T20 and ODI and that is the reason why I am focusing on these two formats. Throughout the world a lot of cricketers are choosing formats to prolong their careers. A team cannot be formed depending on one specific player,” he added.
Mustafizur also said his availability will not boost the Bangladesh bowling unit in red-ball cricket and that the management should focus on building separate units for white-ball and red-ball cricket in order to manage the workload.
