(Cricket News) Experienced Bangladeshi pacer, Taskin Ahmed has managed to retain his place in the Bangladesh’s T20 squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Bangladesh Cricket Board announced on Saturday (May 25) that Taskin Ahmed has held on his place and will be a part of the global event.
Taskin suffered a rib fracture and was on his road to recovery. He has not started to bowl as of now, but is expected to be back at it from 1st June onwards. He is likely to miss the warm-up game against India and his return to playing can only be confirmed after assessing his fitness.
Bangladesh are currently touring USA and opted to carry a 17-member squad along with Taskin who travelled with the side. Hasan Mahmud, the pacer has been added as a backup player in the World Cup squad, in order to cover for Taskin if he fails to recover in time.
Bangladesh Cricket Board’s chief physician Debashish Chowdhury told on Friday (May 24) that they received positive feedback on Taskin’s recovery following an MRI scan on May 23. “Taskin’s improvement is very good and satisfying. He is going through a rehabilitation process and undergoing gym training. He is doing running sessions and we will introduce bowling later,” said Debashish.
“We just got the reports [of the MRI scan] and talked to the doctor, and it seemed the fracture is almost healed and now we will slowly introduce him to short run-up bowling and later increase the intensity. He is not having any problem with running and now we will be doing throwing sessions in the coming days before starting to bowl with short run-ups. We are hopeful he will be available from the opening game of the World Cup if he continues to progress in this manner.”
“It was a case of formality. Every team was given this opportunity (of changing players till May 25) and so we got the time till 11:59 AM Dubai time and following that rule we have spoken with the coach and the captain and we kept Taskin in our 15-member squad for World Cup,” BCB chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain told reporters at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday.
“Taskin had another MRI and he is recovering faster than expected and on May 30 or 31 he will be assessed another time and from June 1 he will start his bowling and we are expecting him to bowl with full pace from June 5,” he added.
Bangladesh are placed alongside Sri Lanka, South Africa, Nepal and Netherlands in Group D of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. They will begin their campaign on June 7 against the arch rivals Sri Lanka.
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