Selectors have lost an opportunity to watch injured bowler Mashrafee bin Murtaza ahead of the upcoming series against New Zealand after he was
ruled out for the rest of Bangladesh A’s tour of England, officials said on Friday.
Selectors had faced a dilemma in deciding whether to pick Mashrafee for the Bangladesh A team’s 15-member squad for the UK tour after the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s medical unit refused to sign off on his fitness.
They later put him on the stand-by list, hoping that he would be able to take part in the three-match unofficial ODI series with the England Lions after Eid, only to be disappointed again after doctors refused to clear him to play.
‘Mashrafee was ruled out a few days back,’ Habibul Bashar told New Age on Friday.
‘We cannot select a player if he is not cleared for fitness,’ he added.
Chief selector Akram Khan, who was earlier skeptical about Mashrafee’s mental strength, remained frustrated by the whole situation.
‘What can I say about it,’ Akram said, ‘He needed this trip as it would have provided him with much-needed match practice.’
Mashrafee had been eyeing the home series against New Zealand as a chance to make his return to international cricket and the selectors wanted to give him some match practice before his proposed comeback.
The former national captain has been without any competitive cricket since he suffered a heel injury during the Bangladesh Premier League final in February.
He missed the subsequent Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe series because of the injury but was expected to have recovered by now.
Mashrafee told reporters that he had been doing his rehab and working accordingly, but could not regain enough fitness to make it into the Bangladesh A team.
‘I am trying my level best, but it was still not good enough,’ Mashrafee said.
-With New Age input
