Veteran left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak said on Thursday that he was surprised at not being informed of his inclusion in the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI for practice match against South Africa. Razzak is part of 14-man squad that will play the Twenty20 warm-up match against the Proteas at Fatullah today. ‘I was browsing the internet when my eyes struck on the news,’ Razzak revealed on Thursday. ‘Later Sumon Bhai [Habibul Bashar] informed me about it after I called him for confirmation,’ said the left-armer. ‘I still believe that my days are not over and I am willing to fight to make a comeback,’ said Razzak. BCB XI co-coordinator Hasanuzzaman, a member of the BCB cricket operations wing, admitted that they did not inform Razzak as he was late in getting the team from the selectors. Razzak said that though he is trying to make a comeback but it has become difficult for him as he went out of the process after losing his place in the team in the wake of a below-par West Indies tour. He missed the first few matches of next series against Zimbabwe in October due to a hamstring injury. But he was not given back his lost place after returning to full fitness despite regained his form.
Selectors overlooked him for the World Cup in Australia-New Zealand, singling the end of his career.
He was inevitably ignored during the back-to-back home series against India and Pakistan and was not also included in the High Performance Unit.
‘When you work alone it is hard,’ Razzak told reporters.
‘I am not going through any kind of process as I am not included anywhere,’ he said.
‘But still managing to keep me rolling as I have full confidence,’ said Razzak, Bangladesh’s leading wicket taker in one-day international cricket with 207 scalps.
Since the exclusion of Razzak Bangladesh have seen the rise of Arafat Sunny and Taijul Islam as their two other options of left-arm spin bowling alongside mercurial Sakib al Hasan.
Though Arafat managed to keep his place in the ODI format, selectors are considering Taijul mostly for the longer version.
With this in mind, chief selector Faruk Ahmed said they are working hard to have a third left-arm option to stay as cover for Sakib and Sunny in the ODI format.
‘We have not completely written him [Razzak] off,’ said Faruk.
‘We have got Arafat as the second left arm spinner for the ODI’s and Taijul is mainly useful in the Test format.
‘So we need to have a bowler for ODI format and looking to have a suitable cricketer,’
‘That’s why we included him in the practice match,’ he said.
-With New Age input
