‘Mustafizur’s fitness needs to be reviewed’, says Mominul Haque

The Bangladesh Test skipper Mominul Haque has opened up on the possible Test comeback of the experienced seamer Mustafizur Rahman. Addressing the reporters after the first Test of the 2-match series against Sri Lanka at Chattogram, Mominul clarified that Mustafizur will make a return to the Test side if the Bangladesh cricket board allows him to do so. 

"If you are saying whether I demand him, then if the board gives him, he will naturally play," Mominul said. 

Continuing, Mominul stressed that regular fitness issues have negatively affected the promising seamer's Test career to a great extent. Therefore, the stylish batter opined that Mustafizur's comeback into red-ball cricket depends on a lot of things, like the number of days he keeps himself fit to play the five-day games. 

However, he didn't completely rule out the left armer's return in whites by saying that they might give him another chance if needed, as they are currently missing some of their frontline pacers. 

"Firstly, you have to see how many days Mustafizur played in the red ball (cricket) and a lot of things depend on that for how many days he is playing or not, and there is the fitness issue," Mominul said. "If we require him, we will play him because we are missing some of our frontline bowlers," the 30-year-old concluded. 

Mustafizur, who made his red-ball debut in the home series against South Africa back in 2015, has managed to play just 14 Tests so far. Although the highly experienced seamer has established himself as a limited-overs specialist, his dream of being a match-winner in Tests has consistently been shattered by injury issues. 

The Bangladesh cricket board (BCB) wants him in the Test team, but he needs to do a lot of work on his fitness to be a regular in all formats.