Bangladesh's pace bowling spearhead Mustafizur Rahman collapsed on the ground after suffering severe cramps in the hot and humid conditions of Chattogram during the third and final ODI of the series against Sri Lanka. Mustafizur could not bowl the last over of his quota and had to be stretchered off the field in the 48th over of the innings.
The left-arm pacer bowled nine overs, conceded 39 runs, and picked up a couple of wickets after Sri Lanka skipper Kusal Mendis won the toss and opted to bat first at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
He started the 48th over with a slower one to Maheesh Theekshana which was called a wide. After the wide ball, he struggled to get up even with the help of his teammates. He suffered from cramps and was eventually stretchered off the field. His two wickets were middle-order batters Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka.
Several Bangladesh players injured
In addition, Soumya Sarkar injured his neck when he hit an advertisement board in an attempt to stop the ball. Mushfiqur Rahim was hit on the hand by a delivery from Taskin Ahmed. In addition, Anamul Haque and Jaker Ali collided while attempting a catch. Ali was stretchered off the field as well.
Bangladesh win despite setbacks
Despite injuries, Bangladesh won the third ODI by four wickets with 9.4 overs to spare. Sarkar's concussion substitute Tanzid Hasan scored 84. Rahim and Haque batted despite injuries whereas Rishad Hossain smashed an unbeaten 18-ball 48.
No death overs speciallist for CSK
The incident happened a few days ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season opener. Defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) led by MS Dhoni will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on March 22.
In the IPL mini-auction, Mustafizur was roped in by CSK for Rs 2 crore. He played for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the previous season. The 28-year-old was expected to join the CSK camp on March 20, a couple of days before the tournament’s first match.
CSK face a tough challenge with Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana ruled out for four to five weeks. Mustafizur was expected to step up in Pathirana’s absence. If the southpaw does not recover before the season opener, CSK will be missing a death overs speciallist. They have Indian pacers Shardul Thakur, Mukesh Choudhary, Deepak Chahar, and Tushar Deshpande in their ranks but they don’t have a good record in the slog overs.
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