Bangladesh pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman is set to miss a major part of Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament due to an injury he picked up in South Africa, said a physician of the Bangladesh Cricket Board on Thursday. Rajshahi Kings roped in Mustafizur, who missed the cut in the icon category after his original suitor Barisal Bulls was removed from the competition for failing to fulfill its financial obligations.
Mustafiz twisted his ankle on his left leg while playing football during a warm-up session prior to the first one-day international of three-match series against South Africa in Kimberly.
BCB’s chief physician Debashish Chowdhury told reporters that it would take him at least four weeks from the injury to start a fitness programme.
‘Today is the 13th day of Mustafiz’s lateral ankle injury,’ said Debashis. ‘We started giving him physiotherapy since yesterday [Wednesday]. His improvement after the first day is very good. The swelling was reduced to a great deal. Though there are some clinical improvements, we would remain careful about his injury as scan report suggested it was a grade-2 sprain or moderate type of ankle sprain.
‘We will continue regular physiotherapy and some exercises. Then we will review him after two weeks to decide next management plan. The lateral ankle injury is a very bad injury. If there is no proper rehabilitation it may recur.
‘So we would want him to return after healing it completely. If he has to miss some BPL matches for that we will accept it,’ said the BCB physician, who helped Mustafiz earlier during his recovery period after a shoulder surgery in the United Kingdom.
‘If he can take rest in the remaining two weeks it will be one month period, which is a good time for recovery,’ he said.
‘Some problems may still remain since he is out of practice for a long time. So we have to give him some time for bowling practice… overall it will take two to three more weeks. We will not get a fully fit Mustafiz until that time,’ he added.
The BCB physician urged the players to remain careful to avoid this kind of injury during warm-up sessions.
‘It’s a freak injury. It happened when they were playing football during the warm-up period,’ he said.
‘We have always cautioned the players that warm-up is part of a preparation for the main game, not the game. If we show competitive attitude in warm-ups the main game will be hampered. Maybe our players cannot keep it in their mind,’ he said.
The fifth edition of BPL will start at Sylhet from November 4.
-With New Age input
