Bangladesh confident of Taskin's recovery

Bangladesh confident of Taskin's recovery 

Bangladesh is expecting Taskin Ahmed to be available in time for their T20 World Cup 2024 opener © Getty

Bangladesh is expecting pace bowler Taskin Ahmed to be available in time for their T20 World Cup 2024 opener against Sri Lanka. The right-arm pace bowler, who is travelling with the team as part of 15-member squad for the ongoing three-match T20I series against the USA, did not feature in the opening two games of the series while he will be missing the third one as well as he is going through a rehabilitation programme in the USA.

Taskin's selection in the 15-member World Cup squad turned out to be a big talking point considering there were doubts regarding his participation after he suffered a displaced fracture in the rib region on the right side.

Bangladesh Cricket Board's chief physician Debashish Chowdhury told Cricbuzz on Friday (May 24) that they received positive feedback on Taskin's recovery following an MRI scan on May 23. "Taskin's improvement is very good and satisfying. He is going through a rehabilitation process and undergoing gym training. He is doing running sessions and we will introduce bowling later," said Debashish.

"We just got the reports [of the MRI scan] and talked to the doctor, and it seemed the fracture is almost healed and now we will slowly introduce him to short run-up bowling and later increase the intensity. He is not having any problem with running and now we will be doing throwing sessions in the coming days before starting to bowl with short run-ups. We are hopeful he will be available from the opening game of the World Cup if he continues to progress in this manner."

Paceman Hasan Mahmud, who was included in the squad for the three-match T20I series, was also included as a reserve player in case Taskin was unable to recover. Bangladesh start their T20 World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka on June 7 in Dallas.