Mustafizur may miss England and New Zealand series

Bangladesh pace prodigy Mustafizur Rahman is facing shoulder surgery early next month, which could sideline him for at least six months. In that case, the sensational pace bowler, who has taken the world by storm in last one and a half years, may miss Bangladesh’s next two bilateral series — against England at home iin October and against New Zealand away from home at the end of the year.


The left-armer played a couple of NatWest T20 Blast games for English county side Sussex during which the injury flared up again forcing him to miss out on the remainder of the tournament. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have been deliberating on conducting the operation in either England or Australia. BCB may take a decision by Monday as to whether the surgery will to be performed in England or Australia.

The cutter master is currently in England. He has seen a specialist in the UK, who recommended that the SLAP (Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior) tear – which involves the ring of cartilage that surrounds the socket of the shoulder joint – could be treated through a surgery, which may rule him out for up to six months. Such a lay-off would rule him out of England’s visit in October and the tour to New Zealand at the end of the year.

BCB’s Media Committee Chairman Jalal Yunus revealed, “In the last few days we have sent his reports to a number of places. We want him to be operated under the best surgeons.

“Two [of the surgeons] are in England. Tony Kochhar has already seen Mustafizur. The other is shoulder surgeon Lennard Funk. He is one of the best surgeons in the world. He has been working on shoulder injuries for a long time. He has also worked with many top athletes. We’ve also contacted [a surgeon in] Australia. We have three options now.”

He added, “By Monday we can decide who will operate on Mustafizur’s shoulder. He is mentally prepared for the operation. He has long career and big asset for us. So we don’t want to take any risk with him. His should problem may have cured by conservative treatment but considering his career we decided to go for surgery, knowing that he would miss cricket for six months.”

Since his debut, Mustafizur has been a true revelation in the world of cricket through his cutters and continued to trouble batsmen from all quarters with his variation though not before paying the price.

Mustafizur was sidelined during the Asia Cup with this same shoulder injury that also ruled him out in some of the matches of the following ICC World Twenty20.

After getting him fit, he took the Indian Premier League (IPL) by storm and played 15 matches at a stretch before hamstring injury made him spectator during Sunrises Hyderabad’s qualifier game-2. He returned in the IPL final after missing one game and made a handy contribution in helping his side clinch the maiden title. Source