Blow For Bangladesh As Mashrafe Mortaza Suffers Hamstring Injury

Just a couple of days before their World Cup campaign gets underway, Bangladesh have suffered a huge setback as their captain Mashrafe Mortaza has picked up a hamstring knock during the warm-up game against India on Tuesday. The fast-bowler suffered a hamstring strain on his left leg during the 6th over of his bowling spell. That injury had compelled Mortaza to spend larger part of the Indian innings on the sidelines.

Mortaza was already nursing an injury to the hamstring on his other leg since the Tri-nation series in Ireland. A rest would have been the best option for the veteran skipper but perhaps the need of match-practise made him play the game. Mortaza said that the urge to test himself against Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma made him bowl.

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“A lot of the times in such cases, I face trouble bowling the first one or two overs. Once I get through that, I don’t face any more problems. I also wasn’t facing any problems today,” Mashrafe Mortaza told bdnews24.com.

“But I pulled a hamstring during the 6th over. I could’ve stopped after four or five overs but Rohit and Kohli were looking to score runs quickly during that period. I felt that I needed to practice bowling in such a situation,” he added.

Usually, the normal hamstring injuries take around a week to heal. But Bangladesh will open their World Cup campaign against South Africa in four days time on June 4 In such a case, Mortaza is in a race against time to be fit for his team’s tournament-opener.

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India, meanwhile, thrashed Bangladesh by 95 runs in their second and final warm-up game to prepare for the World Cup in style. It was a near clinical show from Team India as they dominated with both bat and ball to make light work of the Tigers.

Asked to bat first, India posted a mammoth 359 for 7. KL Rahul and MS Dhoni starred with the bat by scoring centuries each. The bowlers then complemented the batsmen’s effort by bowling out Bangladesh for just 264.

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