Bangladesh National Cricket Team’s young fast bowler Nahid Rana has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against Australia in Australia. Now Bangladesh chief selector Habibul Bashar has shared his thoughts on Rana being ruled out of the series, as he has been a key player for the Bangla Tigers in recent months.
Habibul Bashar mentioned that Bangla Tigers took extra care of the 23-year-old fast bowler to make him available for the Test series against the Australian team, but unfortunately, he suffered a side strain before the two-match Test series against the Kangaroos.
Habibul Bashar on Nahid Rana’s unfortunate injury
Habibul Bashar said that Nahid Rana was tracked through GPS to measure his workload and everything, as this gave all the information about the fast bowler, how much he can play and whether he should be rested or not. Due to precautionary measures, Bangla Tigers did not allow him to play in the recently concluded series against Zimbabwe.
“Nahid Rana was within our workload management policy,” Bashar said. “The GPS tracker tells us everything these days, so we decide which match, how many matches and which series each fast bowler will play. When Australia toured here in June, Nahid Rana did not play all the matches. As per workload management, he was available for two Tests in Australia.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, we did not select him for the Test against Zimbabwe,” Bashar said on Monday. “He got injured in the second T20 after playing the first two ODIs, so it was unfortunate. We could have avoided playing him, but the ODIs were part of our push towards the World Cup.”
Nahid Rana’s recent form
Nahid Rana has been in sensational form this year, taking 44 wickets, including four five-wicket hauls, as his combination of pace and bounce has troubled batsmen across all formats.
He performed well in the white-ball series against Australia and troubled the Australian batsmen during the ODI series in Dhaka in June this year. He took four wickets in two matches in the 50-over format against the Kangaroos and just one wicket in two matches in the T20 series.
Habibul Bashar unhappy with Bangladesh’s poor batting in Zimbabwe series
Habibul Bashar said that Rana had to bowl enough overs, and they could not remove him because he had to bowl a certain number of overs to be match-fit; This was the reason why he was dropped from the Zimbabwe tour. He also pointed out the shortcomings of Bangladesh’s batsmen as they failed to impress throughout the tour against Zimbabwe.
“We also have to keep in mind that he has to bowl enough overs. You can’t just let him stay out of matches. He has to bowl a certain number of balls to be ready for the match. We had to consider that part as well. His injury is unfortunate; it could have happened in Australia. It is difficult to keep fast bowlers free from injuries.”
“We kept our regular batsmen in the squad for the Zimbabwe Test. We had our main bowlers available but we were extra cautious about them, so we rested them all,” Bashar said. “We lost the Test because of our batting. We batted very poorly. We still had bowlers like Abadott.” [Hossain]Khalid [Ahmed] and Hasan Mahmood, who are all test specialists.
“It wasn’t about our bowling, it was about our batting. I don’t think we batted well on that tour in Tests, ODIs or T20Is. We certainly didn’t face any external pressure, but the loss against Zimbabwe is tough to take. We have to be accountable, so you listen to a few things. It was tough to take that loss.”