Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim pulls out of limited-overs series citing family reasons

Bangladesh team received a major blow on Wednesday (July 14) with veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim pulling out of the white-ball series against Zimbabwe. Rahim, who featured in the one-off Test in Harare last week, had initially planned to skip the T20I leg of the tour. However, the right-handed batsman contemplated his decision and opted to stay back in order to make him available for the home series against Australia next month.

Rahim has now changed his mind once again and pulled out of the entire white-ball tour comprising three ODIs and T20Is. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) made the news official and also revealed that the wicketkeeper wants to return home due to family reasons. Mushfiqur will fly to Dhaka on Wednesday.

Mushfiqur Rahim out of Zimbabwe tour

“Bangladesh batsman Mushfiqur Rahim will miss the remainder of the tour in Zimbabwe for family reasons. Mushfiqur will leave Harare later today and travel to Dhaka. He will miss Bangladesh’s three ODIs against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on 16, 18, and 20 July and also the three-match T20 international series that starts at the same venue on 23 July,” said BCB in a statement.

“The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) requests that all respect the privacy of Mushfiqur and his family at this time,” he added.  As mentioned above, Bangladesh will host Australia in a five-match T20I series next month. The BCB and Cricket Australia (CA) had agreed on the condition that players must be in isolation ten days before entering the tour’s bio-bubble in Dhaka.

Now that Mushfiqur will leave the bio-secure bubble midway during the Zimbabwe series, his participation in the Australia series is in jeopardy. In fact, dark clouds are looming over the entire series with a new strain of COVID-19 virus spreading rapidly in Bangladesh. The country is currently observing a nationwide lockdown and it remains to be seen how this series unfolds.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh ODI series gets underway on June 16 (Friday) in Harare. Despite not having Mushfiqur’s services, the Bangla Tigers would be backing themselves to continue their winning run. On the other hand, the home team must put up an exceptional effort to bounce back.