Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim risked himself in the three-match one-day international series against Sri Lanka despite knowing that it could take him five or six weeks for his finger injury to heal completely. Mushfiq, who hurt the baby finger of his left hand during the drawn second Test in Chittagong, is back at the helm having missed the two Twenty20 Internationals with Bangladesh losing both the matches.
He is, however, unlikely to take up the role of wicketkeeper in the ODI series and will only play as a specialist batsman.
‘The injury that I have, it will take five to six weeks to heal,’ Mushfiq told reporters on Sunday. ‘It will not heal completely. May be I have to play with this injury.
‘I have an injury in another finger of my hand. I cannot bend this still. I have been playing with this injury for three to four years.
‘Obviously there is a risk involved. Personally I feel I will be able to play. I informed it to the team management and they supported me.
‘It’s always better to play instead of sitting outside even if there is some risk,’ he said.
Mushfiq added that Bangladesh can do well without him as they no longer rely on a particular player. It is rather the temptation of representing the Tigers in international matches which lures him, even in injury.
‘I am not that good a player without whom Bangladesh cannot win the World Cup. Gone are the days when Bangladesh could win without any particular player,’ he said.
‘Rather I don’t want to miss the matches. I missed the T20 series because it would have been too much of a risk to play,’ said the wicketkeeper-batsman.
In his 122-match ODI career, Mushfiq played as a specialist batsman only twice – first in his debut match against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2006 and then against Ireland in Belfast in 2010.
Khaled Mashud was the wicketkeeper in his first match while Jahirul Islam performed wicketkeeping duties against Ireland.
While Mushfiq played a gamble with himself, he was not ready to do it for Abdur Razzak, another player who sustained an injury during the second Test.
Razzak strained his hamstring on the opening day of the second and final Test after bowling just four overs, an injury which subsequently ruled out him of the T20 series like his skipper.
‘I was with him for the last six-seven days doing our rehab. His injury
is like if we force him to play maybe he can go out for a longer period. So we wanted him to return fully fit,’ he said.
‘He is our most experienced bowler in the one-day format. Definitely we will miss him in the one-day series,’ Mushfiq said of Razzak, the only Bangladeshi bowler with more than 200 ODI wickets.
-With New Age input
