Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal to lead Bangladesh in place of an injured Mashrafe Mortaza

About a week ahead of their tour to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh has been dealt with a few massive blows. For the three-match ODI series between these two nations, regular skipper Mashrafe Mortaza is ruled out. On the third and last day of their training camp before leaving for Colombo, Mashrafe hurt his hamstring. Thus, he will not take the flight to the island nation and Tamim Iqbal will lead the side.

It has been confirmed that Mashrafe’s injury is a Grade 1 strain as BCB’s senior physician Dr Debashis Chowdhury confirmed. Moreover, the veteran cricketer will be out of action for about a month. “It is a recurrent injury that could take around three to four weeks to recover from. Therefore, he is ruled out from participation in sporting activity for a month,” he said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

Bangladesh to miss their match-winners for this tour

Also, the all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin has also been ruled out due to a recurring back injury. Thus, BCB has named Taskin Ahmed and Farhad Reza as the replacements for the two injured cricketers. Taskin has last played an ODI match in October 2017. In all likelihood, he is set to make his comeback into the team and was unfortunate to have missed out of the World Cup 2019.

On the other hand, Farhad Reza has been overlooked to the ODI format since December 2011. He played 34 ODIs for Bangladesh thus far and picked up 22 wickets. The 33-year-old is quite an experienced campaigner and has made his ODI debut way back in 2006. Moreover, since vice-captain Shakib Al Hasan has opted out of this series stating personal reasons, the BCB had no other option but to name Tamim Iqbal the captain. Liton Das will also not be a part of this series.

Just before he was injured, Mashrafe Mortaza spoke to the media where he shared his thoughts about the future of Bangladesh cricket. He stated that nothing much has changed before and after the World Cup. Mashrafe Mortaza said that his team was determined to make a comeback and insisted that they wouldn’t let the intensity down. He also seemed to be pleased about a few new players getting their chances.