Mushfiqur Rahim rested for final ODI against Zimbabwe after refusing to go to Pakistan

The tussle between the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and veteran batsman Mushfiqur Rahim doesn’t seem to be coming to an end. With the former skipper refusing to travel to Pakistan for the upcoming third leg of the tour; the board has seemed to come true on their word of dropping him for the final ODI match against Zimbabwe.

The Bangladesh board has decided to rest Mushfiqur from the final One-day match after the home team won the second match by four runs in a thriller, thanks to 158 from Tamim Iqbal. With the series in pocket, the board wants to rest experienced players to give chances to young ones. They also don’t want young players to make their debuts in Pakistan. Bangladesh will play a one-off ODI on April 3 and a Test match in Karachi against Pakistan, starting from April 5.

“Mushfiqur will not be playing as we want to see one of the youngsters in this game before they are picked for the Pakistan ODI next month. We don’t want to hand them a debut there,” Minhajul Abedin was quoted by ESPNCricinfo. Meanwhile, Rahim, who missed out on the first two parts of the three-leg tour of Pakistan, cited family concerns for deciding to not go for this one ODI and one Test match as well.

Mushfiqur Rahim adamant on not touring Pakistan  

BCB president Nazmul Hassan had taken a tough stance mentioning that Mushfiqur was contract bound to touring Pakistan, but it seems every plea has fallen onto deaf ears. Abedin further explained that after seeing multiple reports in media, the board members asked the batsman-keeper directly. He refused to budge from his decision.

A dejected, yet hopeful Minhajul said, “We are expecting that he would go. Not only him, but every contracted player should go. Players have to think about the country, and not just themselves. This is what I personally feel. The country comes before everything else. We will remind them that the contracted players must play as they are told when selected. It never occurred to me that one has to tell them this, too.”

Bangladesh lost the three-match T20I series 2-0 and lost the one Test match as well in previous legs of the multi-phase tour.