BCB plans to protect premier pacer Mustafizur from injuries

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan has said keeping bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman fit and healthy is their top priority.

The young pacer has had little rest after the World Twenty20, and is currently playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League where he has been in impressive form, reports bdnews24.com.

With a packed domestic and international cricket schedule approaching, Mustafizur is set for a long spell on the field without much time off.

But the BCB is keen on preventing anything going wrong with the 20-year-old southpaw.

"We don't want him to play longer formats anywhere. One-Dayers and T20s are fine but he must be allowed to take enough rest," Hassan said on Monday.

"He is an asset for Bangladesh. We don't want to ruin him by risking injury. We will ensure his protection."

After bursting onto the international scene last year, Mustafizur has twice been sidelined with injury that ruled him out of the Pakistan Super League.

Later a side strain forced him to sit out the last two matches, including the final, of the Asia Cup and the first four games of the World T20.

He is likely to play a couple of matches in the Dhaka Premier League after returning from the IPL. Then he will fly to England to play for Sussex in the English county cricket.

Hassan said Mustafizur will head to England with a set of instructions for his team management.

"We will tell them what our conditions will be. He is still very young. His muscles have not built up the way they should have. We are working on that."

Mustafizur has the cricket world under his spell with an array of bowling tricks up his sleeve. The board chief said his name came up in the International Cricket Council meeting as well.

"Anybody discussing cricket nowadays talks about Mustafizur. The Cricket Australia president asked me where we found this lad. He is surprising everyone all the time," the BCB chief added.

--IANS

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