DHAKA – A broken thumb has forced Mushfiqur Rahim to withdraw from Bangladesh’s two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, which begins in Sylhet on Friday. Bangladesh physio Bayjedul Islam Khan confirmed that Mushfiqur will take at least three weeks to recover from the fracture.
The 36-year-old sustained the injury during the second match of the third ODI against Sri Lanka on Monday. He was hit by a Taskin Ahmed delivery on his right thumb and immediately clutched his hand in pain. The team physio worked on him for a while before Mushfiqur returned to his wicket duties and later played an unbeaten 37 to win the match by 236 runs for Bangladesh.
“After the match, Mushfiqur underwent an X-ray in Dhaka which revealed an avulsion fracture at the MIP joint of his right thumb. He is currently undergoing conservative treatment for the injury and is expected to be out for about three to four weeks.” , which subsequently ruled him out of the Test series against Sri Lanka,” said Bayjedul.
Mushfiqur’s departure is a severe blow to the Bangladesh batting line-up. He played 88 Tests – the most by any Bangladeshi player – and scored 5,676 runs at an average of 38.09. Mushfiqur was also in excellent form in the ODI series, finishing as Bangladesh’s second highest run-scorer behind Najmul Hossain Shanto.
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The Bangladeshi selectors are yet to announce a replacement for Mushfiqur, but they don’t have many options with adequate red-ball experience. Soumya Sarkar, Towhid Hridoy or Tanzid Hasan would be considered, with Jaker Ali and Anamul Haque also fresh from the ODI side. Another option could be 37-year-old Naeem Islam, who played the last of his eight Tests in 2012. Naeem has been in good form with the red ball as he recently finished BCL 2023-24 as the top run-scorer and NCL 2023-24 as the joint second highest run- getters.
Bangladesh will play the first of two Tests against Sri Lanka in Sylhet before traveling to Chattogram for the second Test starting on March 30. Sri Lanka won the T20I series 2-1 before Bangladesh bounced back to sweep the ODI stretch in the same fashion. fringe.
