Former Bangladesh captain and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director Khaled Mahmud has said left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman should play in all formats of cricket for the national team. The pacer is currently busy playing the Indian Premier League for Delhi Capitals. He is the only Bangladeshi cricketer this year to take part in this event. Bangladesh team is going to play a two-match Test series against Sri Lanka this month. But Mustafizur is not a part of this series despite being one of the best pacers in the country. He rather will be busy playing in India. Also read: Sri Lanka cricket team arrives in Dhaka Sunday Taskin Ahmed, another pacer, who has been doing well since his return to the national team after the pandemic hiatus, is going to miss this series due to a leg injury which made Mustafizur’s absence an issue for Bangladesh. “Mustafizur should play Tests because he is now at his peak,” Mahmud told the reporters on Saturday. “I won’t expect him in every Test Bangladesh play in a year, but he should play at least 6-7 Tests.” Mustafizur played his last Test early last year against West Indies in Chattogram. He was not in the Bangladesh Test team since. While signing the current national contract with BCB, Mustafizur made it clear that he would only play the white-ball cricket for the national team. He had said that it is tough for him to play every format of international cricket maintaining bio-secure bubbles. In the upcoming series, neither Bangladesh nor Sri Lanka has to maintain a bubble, as BCB has already confirmed. Also read: BCB announces 14-member squad for two-day practice match vs Sri Lanka “We don’t have a lot of pace bowlers. So I think Mustafiz should play Tests,” Mahmud added. “The players like Shakib (Al Hasan) and Mushfiqur (Rahim) can skip a format because they now need some time to stay out of cricket. But Mustafiz is not like him. He is younger than them and he should play more cricket in this time of career.” The first Test of the Sri Lanka series will take place in Chattogram from May 15 while the second Test will be played in Dhaka from May 23. Both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have announced their squad for this series. Sri Lanka are all set to arrive in Dhaka on Sunday. This two-match Test series is a part of the latest cycle of the ICC Test Championship.

By the time Mustafiz got the wicket of Jos Buttler in the final ball of the final over after he had scored a century and Rajasthan Royals (RR) collected 222, the match was already over. It was nice to see Mustafiz get a wicket, one of the 2 in the match though he gave 43 runs in his 4 overs. The other wicket-taker was Khaleel Ahmed who gave 47 runs. It wasn’t just that the Delhi Capitals (DC) bowling was lacking bite but that RR batting was way out with Buttler leading the march. Buttler, scoring his third century justified his price and put everyone to the sword, lasting from an obscenely high scoring beginning till the high scoring very end over. One wonders if the IPL needs a bowling fix or not. The batter-bowler balance is threatening to be upset more than a bit. Except for cameos – like Chahals in a previous match though not today – the batters are the ones who seem to decide the way. Too much for DC  RR beat the hell out of DC and everyone had double-digit run rates against their overs. Only 2 wickets fell and Paddikal (54)and Buttler(116) made 155, the highest first wicket partnership this season. Captain Sanju Samson made 46 too and the team got to 222, a double Nelson. The target was more than 11 runs per over and that DC could reach 207 with the loss of 7 wickets shows that the match didn’t really pick up till the end and that really means the last over. As the asking rate went beyond 12, early on, victory became remote. DC lost Warner, the man supposed to lead the chase by the 4th over after scoring 28 only and Sarfaraz went a ball later. No one stood up to be counted and all had motored along. Risabh Pant scored the highest 44 runs. The match actually did start picking up a bit in the 17th over as the asking and current run rate rubbed shoulders but Lalit Yadav, the last hope was boxed in the 18th (37) and the DC lights began to dim. In came Rovman Powell and there was drama. It was 36 runs to get in the final over and Rovman hit one, two and three sixes in a row. DC could make it only if he hit a 6 in every ball and after the first three, the fans believed it was not just possible but coming. Sadly the next three were 0/2/W. DC lost by 15 runs after a good deal of drama in the final over. Fittingly, the two players who didn’t come out to bat were Mustafiz and Khaleel, the two wicket-takers. The story was there.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced its men’s and women’s teams for the year 2021 for different formats of cricket with maximum three cricketers being picked from Bangladesh in the Men’s ODI team. All- rounder Shakib Al Hasan, wicket-keeper batter Mushfiqur Rahim and pacer Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh included in the ICC Men’s ODI team. Bangladeshi brilliant pacer Mustafizur Rahman has also been included in the ICC Men’s T20 team for the year. But, Bangladesh has no representation in the ICC Men’s Test, Women’s ODI and T20 teams. Unrepresented in the ICC's Men's 'T20 Team of the Year 2021' due to a disastrous World Cup campaign in the UAE, no Indian cricketer featured in the global body's 'ODI Team of the Year 2021', despite the inclusion of two players from minnows Ireland. Incidentally, the ICC Men’s ODI team also does not have any cricketers from Australia, England, New Zealand and West Indies. But the team has two Pakistani cricketers, including Babar Azam as captain for both the Men’s ODI and T20 teams and another is Fakhar Zaman. Read: BPL 2022: Chattogram Challengers to Play Fortune Barishal in Season Opener Babar, who has played least among the 11 players, also has 405 runs in six games with two hundreds while his country-mate Zaman has 369 runs in the year. Shakib was superb as an all-rounder having 277 runs and 17 wickets, while Mushfiqur Rahim had 400-plus runs along with stumping and catches while pacer Mustafizur Rahman had 18 wickets to consider for ICC Men’s ODI team. Sri Lanka (15), Ireland (14) and Bangladesh (12) played the most number of ODIs in 2021, so their players dominate in the ICC XI. ICC teams of the year 2021 for different formats: Men's ODIs: Paul Stirling, Janneman Malan, Babar Azam (capt), Fakhar Zaman, Rassie van der Dussen, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Wanindu Hasaranga, Mustafizur Rahman, Simi Singh and Dushmantha Chameera Men's Tests: Dimuth Karunaratne, Rohit Sharma, Kane Williamson (capt), Joe Root, Marnus Labuschagne, Fawad Alam, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Kyle Jamieson, Hasan Ali, and Shaheen Afridi Men's T20Is: Jos Buttler, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (capt), Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, David Miller, Wanindu Hasaranga, Tabraiz Shamsi, Josh Hazlewood, Mustafizur Rahman, and Shaheen Afridi Read: Bangabandhu BPL begins on Friday sans spectators Women's ODIs: Lizelle Lee, Alyssa Healy (wk), Tammy Beaumont, Mithali Raj, Heather Knight (capt), Hayley Matthews, Marizanne Kapp, Shabnim Ismail, Fatima Sana, Jhulan Goswami, and Anisa Mohammed Women's T20Is: Smriti Mandhana, Tammy Beaumont, Danni Wyatt, Gaby Lewis, Nat Sciver (capt), Amy Jones (wk), Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp, Sophie Ecclestone, Loryn Phiri, Shabnim Ismail  

Left-arm bowlers Nasum Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman bagged four wickets each as Bangladesh wrapped up New Zealand for 93 in 19.3 overs in the fourth T20I of the five-match series on Wednesday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. New Zealand, once again, won the toss, and opted to bat first but failed to have a good start as they lost the first wicket with no score on the board.  Nasum removed Rachin Ravindra off the fifth ball of the first over. Inside the power play New Zealand lost only one more wicket.  READ: New Zealand opt to bat first in 4th T20I vs Bangladesh Finn Allen (12), Tom Latham (21) and Will Young (46) did well with the bat, but after their departure, the other New Zealand batsmen failed to continue the momentum.   In the 12th over Nasum removed Henry Nicholls and Coiln de Grandhomme for one and a duck respectively. The last five of the New Zealand batsmen scored only 11 runs. In the last over, Mustafizur removed Will Young and Blair Tickner from two consecutive deliveries.  READ: To take the series, Tigers must dig deep against resurgent Kiwis While Nasum bagged four for 10, his best in the format, Mustafizur scalped 4 for 12. Mahedi Hasan and Mohammad Saifuddin bagged one wicket each.