LPL 2024: Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam to join Kandy Falcons

Bangladesh seamer Shoriful Islam is set to join Kandy Falcons for the fifth edition of the Lanka Super League (LPL) 2024. He will replace Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Ali, who is ruled out of the tournament following an injury. Shoriful meanwhile represented Colombo Strikers in the fourth edition of the LPL and will join Kandy on Wednesday, July 3.

Bangladesh's  Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman and Towhid Hridoy are also part of the ongoing LPL. Ace pacer Taskin Ahmed is part of the Colombo squad while Dambulla Sixers signed both Rahman and Hridoy. Meanwhile, Shoriful's inclusion is a massive boost for Kandy, who lost their previous game against Colombo. 

They defeated Dambulla Sixers by six wickets in the opening game of the campaign while losing to Colombo by 51 runs in the second match. They will host Colombo in their next match on July 6, in which Shoriful can feature in the playing XI. He was part of Bangladesh's squad for the T20 World Cup, but could not make his way into the playing XI, with the likes of Taskin, Tanzim and Mustafizur available for selection.  

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Meanwhile, Shoriful's national teammate Taskin recently apologised for missing the crucial game against India on June 22. One of the officials of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed that the right-arm pacer missed the team bus for the game as he overslept. However, the official mentioned that he isn’t too sure if Taskin would have been in the playing XI in the first place.

“It is true that he (Taskin) joined the team later after missing the team bus," said the official on Monday. "But why he did not play only the coach can say because whether he was in the plan or not (against India) is something that can be answered by the head coach (Chandika Hathurusingha)," the official told Cricbuzz on request of anonymity.

Taskin played Bangladesh’s final Super Eights game against Afghanistan after apologising to his teammates. Meanwhile, the pacer claimed that he reached the ground before the toss and he was aware of being dropped against India.