Taskin Ahmed denied NOC to play in County Championship

Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed has been denied NOC by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to take part in the ongoing County Championship season for Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The decision has been taken as the cricket board does not want to risk him ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023, scheduled to take place in India from October 5. 

According to reports, Ahmed was approached by YCCC head coach Ottis Gibson, who had also worked as bowling coach of the Bangladesh team earlier, to play for them. Following this, the Bangladesh seamer asked Gibson to talk with BCB in this regard, but the discussions didn't lead to a positive result.

"Yes, Yorkshire wanted him to play for them, but we have rejected them as we don't want him to take a huge load of playing red-ball cricket in county ahead of the World Cup," Jalal Yunus, BCB's cricket operation chairman, was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

"He (Taskin) just recovered from injury, and he is also in our Test squad, and we have some plans with him as far as how we want him (fitness-wise) ahead of the World Cup," he added.

The 28-year-old seamer has been included in the squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan starting from June 14 at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka, although he had gone through rehabilitation recently for his side strain. Ahmed had missed the one-off Test and three-match ODI series against Ireland played in March-April due to the injury.

The right-arm pace bowler was seen bowling at full strength for the first time as Bangladesh began their practice ahead of the Afghanistan Test at the Shere-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday (June 4). Ahmed was bowling under the guidance of Chandika Hathurusingha, who arrived in Dhaka a day before (June 3) to prepare his troops for the series.

Team management to take the last-minute call on Taskin ahead of the Test vs Afghanistan

Regarding whether the seamer will get a chance to play in the upcoming Test, Habibul Bashar, a member of the BCB selection panel, said they will take a last-minute call on him as he has just recovered from an injury.

"I think we will take a decision whether he will play or not in the Test match against Afghanistan at the last minute because we have included him keeping in mind that he will be available for the Test but at the same time we have to understand that he just recovered from an injury," Habibul was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.