Mashrafe Mortaza Ruled Out Of The Sri Lanka Tour

Bangladesh will look to keep up their excellent form from the ICC World Cup 2019 in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka starting from July 26. However, they will miss their skipper Mashrafe Mortaza who suffered a hamstring injury while training before leaving for Colombo. Senior batsman Tamim Iqbal will now lead the side in place of the regular Bangladesh skipper.

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Mortaza ruled out of Sri Lanka tour

There were speculations that the Mashrafe Mortaza might announce his retirement after the World Cup. But all ended when the selectors retained him as the skipper for the series against Sri Lanka. Mortaza had a poor outing in the World Cup managing to pick only one wicket in the nine matches with economy rate also in the higher side. The upcoming series would have been perfect to redeem himself after a poor campaign in England, but he will now have to sit out for at least 3 to 4 weeks.

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Bangladesh cricket team’s chief physician Debashish Chowdhury revealed the Mashrafe Mortaza has sustained a grade 1 injury. He also added that this can come back again so he will need a month rest to recover. As a result, Mortaza will miss the three-match ODI series starting from July 26.

“Mortaza injured his left hamstring during training today. He received immediate MSK ultrasound examination which has revealed a grade 1 injury. 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.

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Tamim Iqbal will take up the leadership role in place of Mashrafe Mortaza. Tamim has led Bangladesh in a Test match, but this will be the first time he will be leading his country in a limited-overs game. The Tigers will also miss the service of all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin who is down with a persistent back problem.

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