Bangladesh’s pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman will need approximately another month to recover his fatigue and injury after a prolonged season though he is improving quickly, national cricket team’s strength and conditioning coach Mario Villavarayan said on Thursday. This meant the 20-year old Mustafizur, who is supposed to join Sussex in this season, needs more time to start his stint with the English county.
Mustafiz, who made his international debut for Bangladesh during the last year, had a hectic season with his international and Indian Premier League commitment.
But the youngster brought immense fatigue and niggles along with his global fame that compelled him to take a rehabilitation programme.
Mustafiz started the programme on June 9 and exactly after a week the Sri Lankan coach gave some update to media saying that they need further assessment on the injury of the paceman.
‘Ideal [time to be fully fit] would be one month. But we will see how he does this week and take it from there,’ said Mario.
At the same time the Sri Lankan trainer also assured that the left-handed fast bowler is recovering quickly.
‘As of today, there’s marginal improvement. It was a long season for him, so we are working on him. We assessed him yesterday [Wednesday] and he has improved, and we will assess him again next week and take it from there.
‘He has responded well,’ added the Sri Lankan.
Mustafiz struggled with a shoulder injury during a T20I against Zimbabwe in February that ruled him out of the inaugural Pakistan Super League. He played only three matches in the Asia Cup before a side strain ended his participation in the tournament.
In March, Sussex had announced that Mustafiz would be their second overseas player and will participate in the NatWest T20 Blast and the Royal London One-Day Cup.
The left-arm pacer was scheduled to join the Sussex squad at the end of the IPL but the Bangladesh Cricket Board insisted on him taking a break after the grueling tournament.
Mustafiz played all but one of Hyderabad’s 17 matches and claimed 17 wickets at 6.9 per over, the best economy rate for any bowler who played at least 10 matches in the tournament this season.
Sussex have played four games in the NatWest T20 Blast so far and are placed second in the South Group points table after two wins.
The team, however, have lost three of their four Royal London One-Day Cup matches, with the next game on July 24 against Gloucestershire.
Mohammedan Sporting Club was hoping to get Mustafiz’s service at some stage of the Dhaka Premier League after roping him in during the players’ draft in April.
Mustafiz turned up during a practice session of Mohammedan last week, though he did not make any comment about his chance of playing for the club in the league.
-With New Age input
