The Bangladesh cricket team have been dealt a severe blow in their preparations for the upcoming series against England with an X-ray on Tamim Iqbal’s left hand confirming their worst fears that the injury sustained by the left-handed opening batsman on the ring finger while fielding at team practice in Mirpur on Saturday is a fracture. He is expected to be out for a minimum period of two to three weeks and faces a race against time in order to be fit for the series.
The injury update will come as a setback for the Bangladesh who will be looking forward to extending their good run of results at home in bilateral ties having got the better of India, South Africa, and Pakistan in ODI series’ in 2015.
England’s tour of Bangladesh was under a cloud of uncertainty before it got the necessary security clearance a couple of days earlier with a 3-member panel appointed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) deeming it safe to tour the Asian country which saw terrorists kill 20 foreign nationals during an attack on an upscale restaurant in Dhaka in July.
"He has fractured his ring finger during catching practice," Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) chief physician Debashish Chowdhury said. "The good thing is that the fracture did not spread and is in one place. We are hopeful for him to recover within two to three weeks."
The 27-year-old, who is the highest run scorer for Bangladesh in international cricket, is an important member of the side with his experience batting at the top of the order crucial to the host’s chances in the five-match ODI series against England that is scheduled to begin on October 7.
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Tamim, who described how he picked up the injury after undergoing the X-ray test on Sunday, is confident that he can recover in time for the series but admitted that he was feeling a lot of discomfort in his left hand.
“I hurt my finger while attempting to go for a catch during yesterday. It hurts as of now, but I am confident that I can come back soon and play the England series. Doctors have said that it will take me around two to three weeks to recover. What I have to do right now is to wait for this fracture to heal. Once that happens I can take the next step,” Tamim told The Daily Star.
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