ZCZC
BSP-24
CRICKET-PAPON-MUSHFIQUR
Tigers to miss inform Mushfiqur’s service in Pak tour
DHAKA, Jan 19, 2020 (BSS) – The loopholes that created in the national cricket team’s middle order because of the absence of Mushfiqur Rahim would be tough to plug, said Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon.
Not only that Mushfiqur Rahim has been the most dependable batsman of the team but also he has the experience and has been in a superb form of late in T20 cricket.
The diminutive batsman led Bangladesh’s maiden T20 win over India in last November before amassing 491 runs from 14 matches of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL), which was just four runs short of highest run-getter Rilee Rossouw. He also scored his T20 highest 98 in this tournament.
But the experienced batsman pulled out himself from the Pakistan tour, citing the reason that his family doesn’t want him to go to Pakistan due to the security fear. The seasoned campaigner let his decision clear to BCB to which the board complied.
“We have no Shakib Al Hasan in the middle order. And now there is no Mushfiqur Rahim. We’ll miss him badly in the series,” BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon said here today.
“He is the most dependable batsman of our team and he was always. In this BPL he proved that he is the best. If we think that way, he will be badly missed. Another thing is Shakib is not there. So it is unfortunate that we missed both of them.”
Still Papon thinks they should compete with Pakistan and win the series.
“Still we think that there will be good contest in the series. They [Pakistan] also expected us to fight against them. Bangladesh should win,” he said.
The BCB president’s confidence stemmed from the fact that some of the players showed tremendous performance in the recently concluded BBPL.
“Tamim is back after a long time and didn’t play badly. Liton Das has been in form and Afif also played well. There are the likes of Shanto, Naim Sheikh who showed their capability.
“The courage and the spirit that is required to win the T20 game, I saw it in them. So I think if they can continue the BPL performance, it would be enough for us,” Papon concluded.
BSS/SMP/SMM/1730 hrs