Mustafizur Rahman takes a break from Test cricket due to bubble fatigue

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced format-specific annual contracts on September 1. Much to the surprise of many fans, Bangladesh’s main fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was missing from the all-format contracts. The left-arm pacer was just included for the T20I and ODI contracts. 

In a report which has come out since it was revealed that the 25-year-old has decided to step back from Test cricket for some time in order to focus on his white-ball game. But the main issue which the pacer has cited is the fact that long periods of quarantine and staying in bio-secure bubbles are getting to him. 

Since cricket resumed post the initial lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic, the young pacer has been spending a lot of time inside biosecure bubbles. This had led him to even complain about that. The pacer is set to spend a whole lot more time inside a biosecure bubble. He is currently playing in the T20I series between New Zealand and Bangladesh. 

We have taken that decision very positively: BCB cricket operations chairman Akram Khan 

After the completion of this series, he will travel to the United Arab Emirates for the Indian Premier League. Once he is done with that, he will be staying back for the T20 World Cup. In a report by Cricbuzz, BCB cricket operations chairman Akram Khan was quoted talking about Rahman’s request to the board regarding the issue. 

“Mustafizur is not interested in taking part in Tests at the moment. He told us that it is difficult for him to concentrate on Tests, playing it under bio-bubble and so he does not want to take part in Tests at the moment. We have taken that decision very positively and have discussed it and accepted his request because he is a very important player in the white-ball format,” Khan said.

Khan further talked about the new contract system which allows them to have players for specific formats. “We have made different payment slabs based upon performance and we kept that so that there is competition between cricketers. When a cricketer is coming to Test from T20s there is a raise and similarly, when he is coming to ODIs there is some raise,” he said.