Just days after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) allowed its left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman to stay an extra day in India to feature for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2024, a board official criticized the league .
The official is none other than BCB President of Cricket Operations Jalal Yunus, who did not hold back his feelings and did it all in the Indian Premier League as well as CSK. It was the reigning champions along with the BCCI, who requested the BCB to let Rahman stay here for one more day.
Mustafizur Rahman was initially scheduled to return to his homeland on May 1 to take part in Bangladesh’s five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe at home starting on May 3.
The Bangla Tigers will play T20Is on May 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12, all at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. After that series, Bangladesh will fly to the 2024 T20 World Cup co-host nation to play a 3-match series against the United States.
These two series will be important for the team for their WC T20 hopes and if they aim to reach the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time. And that makes Mustafizur Rahman very important and as he proves in IPL, the left-arm seamer, with the variations on him, is a great asset to the team he represents.
That said, Bangladesh would love to have ‘Fizz’ back before he suffers an injury in the demanding league.
Jalal Yunus says CSK and BCCI don’t care about Mustafizur Rahman
While talking to reporters recently on this very issue, Jalal Yunus stated that neither BCCI nor CSK are worried about Mustafizur Rahman’s fitness and his fitness is the BCB’s headache.
Yunus also criticized CSK for demanding 100% from Rahman every time he plays and that could put some pressure on his shoulders and make it much easier for him to suffer an injury.
Jalal Yunus also revealed that Mustafizur Rahman will not only return for the Zimbabwe series but also to ensure that his workload is managed well.
“Our concern is Mustafizur’s physical condition. They want to get 100 percent out of him. They don’t have a headache about his physical condition, but we do.”
“The reason we are bringing Mustafizur back is not just to play in the Zimbabwe series, but if he is brought here, we will plan it with the workload. But that plan will not happen if he is in the IPL.” – Yunus told reporters.
Yunus says Fizz has nothing to learn from IPL
Jalal Yunus later stated that Mustafizur Rahman has nothing to learn from the IPL as his learning process is over and the league should learn from him. This is a way of expressing his disappointment that his country does not have a system as lucrative as the IPL.
“Mustafizur has nothing to learn by playing in the IPL. Mustafizur’s learning process is over. Rather, there are many players in the IPL who can learn from him. Bangladesh will not benefit from this.” – Yunus concluded.
Was it jealousy or insecurity on Jalal Yunus’ part? Or was it just for the sake of the Bangladesh team?