Mustafizur Needs To Prove Fitness To Get Selected For India Tour

Rahman has to play in the domestic first-class competition before he can be considered eligible for India tour selection, said BCB

As the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) soon be selecting the team for the upcoming tour of India, chief selector Minhajul Abedin has cleared that speedster Mustafizur Rahman has to prove his fitness in the upcoming round of the National Cricket League (NCL) to be considered eligible.

After missing the opening round of matches in Bangladesh's domestic first-class competition, the clock is ticking for Mustafizur Rahman to prove his fitness for the India tour.https://t.co/emf9V3wakO

— ICC (@ICC) October 16, 2019

The left-arm pacer missed the opening round matches of Bangladesh's premier first-class competition as he is still recovering from an ankle injury.

"He will have to prove his fitness in the NCL game to be considered for the upcoming Test series against India. The physio had given us some guidelines. He was supposed to play from the very first match. However, because he has some minor problem with his ankle, he was not able to take the full load, and therefore was unable to play the first match," ICC Abedin quoted as saying. "He is in the recovery phase now. We have to assess how many overs he can bowl. I have been given a guideline that he cannot bowl more than 15 overs [per day] in the upcoming match, and so we will consider that and subsequently assess his fitness during the four-day games," Abedin added.

The second round of NCL games begins on October 17 which gives Mustafizur just over two weeks to prepare for the India tour. But Abedin said that the call on Rahman's selection would entirely fall in the team management's hands. Bangladesh will tour India to play three T20Is and two Tests which will be a part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC). The first T20I will be played at Delhi on November 3.