Sports Desk:

Bangladesh Cricket Board official said on Wednesday that pacer Taskin Ahmed is available for the upcoming Test series against Pakistan, scheduled from 21 August.

Taskin took a break from Test cricket in order to have proper recovery for his shoulder injury and concentrate on white-ball cricket.

However, Taskin is eyeing for a Test return after playing the ICC T20 World Cup and the just concluded Lanka Premier League with being troubled.

The right arm pace bowler, who is expected to have an MRI soon after having an ultra-sonogram to see his present state as far as his shoulder injury is concerned on Tuesday (July30), began individual training on Tuesday and bowled couple of overs in the indoor net with red ball to see where he stands injury wise and finished it without being troubled.

“Taskin had an assessment yesterday and that is already done and we are considering him (Taskin) for the red ball,” BCB cricket operation chairman Jalal Yunus told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.

“This is the selectors call (to pick for the Test series or not) and when the team is announced then you guys will understand,” he said.

Bangladesh team is desperately seeking someone like Taskin as their premier pacer Ebadot Hossain is not available for selection due to injury.

“Ebadot is still recovering. We are communicating with him regularly and the last update we have about him is that he has recovered almost 70%. Hopefully he will improve more in the coming two months. He is still in the rehabilitation process. Let him recover after that we will see (where we stand),” he said.

Jalal said that they are expecting spin consultant Mushtaq Ahmed during the tour of Pakistan but added that following the series the legendary spinner will be engaged in his other assignments that will prevent him from joining the Bangladesh team for the rest of the series.

Mushtaq recently joined England Under-19 set-up while told Cricbuzz following that appointment that he is unavailable till December 2024 to complete his other assignment that he had committed earlier.

“Mushtaq Ahmed is available for the Pakistan series. As he has some of his own programs ahead, that’s why he is unable to be available for the other series. He is busy till December. But we will try to have a long term contract with him from January. I’m not saying certainly that we will get him but we will try. Up until now the vibe is positive. Let’s see what happens in the future,” said Jalal.

Jalal added that Shakib Al Hasan, who is playing Global T20 League, had made him available for the tour of Pakistan. Shakib played only four Tests in last two years while missing the remaining four Tests that Bangladesh played during this time frame.

“He( Shakib) is available for the Test (against Pakistan). He has spoken to me, the board and the selectors. He is available. If he can’t cover within time then he might come to Pakistan directly from Dubai,” said Jalal. “We asked him to come to Dhaka and practice with the team for 2 or 3 days and then go alongside the team. We will have him in the Pakistan series,” he concluded.

Meanwhile BCB said that they are not worried with Pakistan security situation despite several reports suggest political unrest prevailing in the country.