WI VS BAN 2018: Mustafizur Rahman Returns for T20I Series Against Windies

Bangladesh left-arm speedster Mustafizur Rahman has returned to the Tigers’ Twenty20International (T20I) squad for the upcoming three-match series against hosts Windies.

The young cutter specialist missed Bangladesh’s recent T20I assignment against Afghanistan at Dehradun in India. He was also out of the Test squad for the Windies series and also for the ODI’s. He was down with a hairline fracture on his toe which he had sustained during the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL).

Rahman had to back out of the Afghanistan T20I’s at the last moment. Hence, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was forced to send his replacement Abul Hasan on a pretty short notice. He returned with impressive figures of two for 40 in the only game he played in the series.

Barring Rahman’s inclusion there are no other changes in the squad.

Rahman’s inclusion will be a huge morale boost:

It will be a huge morale booster for Bangladesh who will harbour hopes of finishing their tour of Windies on a high. Mustafizur has been a class act in his brief international career so far. He almost single-handedly won Bangladesh the Nidahas Trophy. He bowled a sensational 18^th over conceding only a solitary run. It took the calculation to 34 required off the last two.

However, Dinesh Karthik played a heck of a knock and remained unbeaten on 29 off just eight deliveries. He struck a last-ball six of Soumya Sarkar to seal the deal for India.

Against Afghanistan, Rahman was missed dearly as Bangladesh suffered a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of Afghanistan. He has been a great death overs bowler. He was an impressive performer for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL. However, his performances dipped quite reasonably as the tournament progressed.

After losing the Test series they made a good comeback in the opening match of the ODI series. They lost the second encounter to surrender the advantage.

Rahman’s inclusion will surely give them an extra edge in the T20I series. The T20I series starts on 31^st July at St. Kitts. The second and the final T20I will be played at Lauderhill in the United States of America (USA).

Windies Vs Bangladesh – T20I Squad:

Shakib Al Hasan (c), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hassan, Nazmul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider, Abu Jayed, and Ariful Haque