Bangladesh pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman is looking forward to experience county cricket by joining Sussex after recovering from his injury as well as fatigue, said officials on Tuesday.
Mustafiz revealed his decision when he was approached by Mohammedan Sporting Club officials regarding his plan about playing in the ongoing Dhaka Premier League as he is also a member of their squad.
Mustafiz, who reached a new height through his impressive performance in the just concluded Indian Premier League, looked to have made up his mind to explore as many opportunities as possible through playing domestic tournaments in foreign conditions.
As a result he had dismissed all kind of possibilities regarding featuring in the DPL for MSC and also poured cold water in the month-long media speculation that he might skip county cricket due to tiredness.
Mustafiz received a hero’s welcome on his return from India on Monday night after a successful campaign in the IPL for champions Sunrisers Hyderabad, claiming 17 wickets that earned him the accolade of the emerging player of the tournament.
However, the left-arm pacer did not earn all this glory without paying a price as he had also picked up an ankle injury on his right foot along with a hamstring during the tournament that forced him to skip a qualifier match.
Mustafiz arrived at BCB headquarters on Tuesday to meet the medical team of BCB where he spent two long hours and was asked to complete some medical check-up so that the level of his injury can be assessed.
BCB physician Baizidul Islam said that he did not aggravate any of his injury that sidelined him for several matches earlier this year starting from the home series against Zimbabwe to ICC World Twenty20.
‘He seemed okay now,’ Baizid told New Age. There is no problem in his bowling shoulder. Also he has completely recovered from side injury otherwise he could not play 19 matches [ three matches in ICC World Twenty20 and 16 matches in IPL] in little over two months.’
‘However, they [the matches] gave him some fatigue as well. He has developed some problems in his right ankle which is creating a problem for his landing after completing a delivery,’ he said.
‘He needs some rest to remove the stress. If he continues like this he may collapse anytime. We need to asses him further to see how long he needs to stay off,’ said the physician.
BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that the board will ensure all possible measures so that they don’t lose their prized scalp though overuse.
‘The doctors have assessed him manually and later some further works will be done so that we know how to go about it,’ Nizamuddin told reporters.
‘We cannot say anything about his participation in the county for Sussex as he is going through a process and we need another one or two days to understand his condition totally,’
In March, Sussex announced that Mustafiz will be their second overseas player and will participate in the NatWest Twenty20 Blast and the Royal London One-day Cup in the 2016 season.
BCB said that they agreed in principle with the deal and according to Nizamuddin they have not backtracked from it and a decision will be made taking everything into consideration.
‘More than his desire we need to see how far his body can take,’ said Nizamuddin.
‘Naturally we will make the decision about his featuring in the foreign domestic league considering his body’s ability,’ he said.
Nizamuddin earlier received Mustafiz along with deputy minister for youth and sports Arif Khan Joy on Monday night when the pacer returned home from India.
-With New Age input
