Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) cricket operations chairperson, Jalal Yunus, has defended the decision to call back Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, for his national side's T20l series against Zimbabwe.

BCB has notified IPL and Mustafizur's franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK), that the pacer should be allowed to return to his country to complete his national team duties from May 2. 

The decision comes as a jolt to CSK's plans as Mustafizur has been their best bowler this season with 10 wickets in five matches. Yunus has said that the IPL has nothing more to offer to the Bangladesh fast bowler.

Originally, Mustafizur was scheduled to return to Bangladesh on May 1, for their five-match T20 series against Zimbabwe, which is set to begin on May 3. However, CSK requested BCB to extend Mustafizur's stay by a day, allowing the left-arm pacer to play an extra match for the Super Kings.

Even as BCB made the call to bring back Mustafizur from the IPL, which is considered one of the finest platforms to warm up to the T20 World Cup, quite a few experts and ex-cricketers have suggested that the pacer should be allowed to continue playing the T20 league in India.

Replying to the many suggestions, Yunus explained that BCB's call is based on fitness concerns for the experienced pacer, who is expected to be a key member of their T20 World Cup squad.

“Mustafizur has nothing to learn from playing in the IPL. Mustafizur’s learning process is over. Rather, there are many players in IPL who can learn from him. Bangladesh will not benefit from this,” Yunus was quoted as saying by Daily Star.

“Our concern is Mustafizur’s fitness. They want to take 100 per cent from him. They don’t have a headache about his fitness, but we do. The reason we are bringing back Mustafizur is not just to play in the Zimbabwe series, but if he is brought here, we will plan him with the workload. But that plan won’t happen if he’s in IPL.”

Mustafizur Rahman had the Purple Cap on multiple occasions in April. The left-arm pacer began the IPL 2024 season with a bang, picking 4 wickets against RCB to lead CSK to a comfortable victory.

The 28-year-old will be available for the upcoming fixtures of CSK - 2 back-to-back clashes against LSG, followed by one against SRH and PBKS. 

Source: Geo Super

BDST: 2137 HRS, APR 17, 2024
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