The Bangladesh Cricket Board has decided to protect the pace bowling prodigy Taskin Ahmed from excessive workload, ruling him out of Test contention until the World Cup next year, said the officials. Taskin came to spotlight by picking up five wickets on his one-day international debut against India in June and is presently touring West Indies with the ODI squad of the Tigers.
The right-arm pace bowler gave a breath of fresh air in the Tigers dressing room by showing some raw pace which augured a bright future for him.
Bangladesh have not seen a fast bowling talent of this kind since the emergence of Mashrafee bin Murtaza, who terrorised the opponents at the beginning of his career in 2001.
However, the excessive use of Mashrafee, who sent down at least 104 overs in his first four Test matches, took a heavy toll on the tall, strongly built pace bowler, who eventually failed to play to his full potential.
Ever since Mashrafee suffered a rib injury in what was his just second series in New Zealand, he had had a stop-start career in all formats.
Taskin is similarly an injury-prone bowler having already spent a year without any cricket before he took the world by surprise in his debut match, a Twenty20 international against Australia.
He underlined his credentials as a future superstar on his stunning ODI debut against India when he finished with 5-28.
‘We will not consider him for Test match for at least six months,’ chief selector Faruk Ahmed told New Age on Saturday. ‘We want to manage him better so that he is well prepared to handle the longer version cricket.
‘We already know what happened to Mashrafee and don’t want to make the same mistake by overworking him,’ said Faruk.
Taskin’s pace bowling prowess caught the eye during the second edition of the Bangladesh Premier League where he represented Chittagong Kings.
He proved his worth during his short stint in the tournament after he was introduced as a replacement for Australian Shaun Tait.
‘We must understand there is a shortage of quality fast bowlers in our country,’ said Faruk. ‘We just cannot waste a talent by trying to hurry it up.
‘He is still young and can go a long way provided he is hundred percent fit and that is what we are focusing on at the moment.’
Bangladesh national team’s trainer Stuart Karpinn told New Age that he had already informed the selectors that he will not be available for Test selection for at least 12 months.
‘He needs some long format cricket first before being put into Test cricket,’ Karpinn said. ‘Realistically it could be more like 12 to 18 months. We are governed by how his injury responds to increased stress.’
-With New Age input
