Bangladesh seamer Mohammad Saifuddin has lashed out at the management and support-staff for their continued negligence towards the status of his recovery from injury.
Saifuddin, who last played an international match during the T20 World Cup last year against Sri Lanka, has been on the sidelines for five-and-a-half months now. The right-handed seamer sustained a back injury during the quadrennial event and since then left-arm seamer Shoriful Islam has done well to claim his place in the side ahead of the latter.
Saifuddin expressed his displeasure at the apathy shown by the Bangladesh management towards his recovery process. However, he asserted that a national call-up is not his mind at the moment. He just wants to focus on one game at a time.
‘’I am not on the national side and I am not thinking of the national team. When I get back on the side I will think again. I have been out of the field for five-and-a-half months. No one from among the national team’s coaching staff or management contacted me. So what can I say by myself? When the team feels I am required, I will talk about the national team. Now I am in Abahani and my focus is here,” Saifuddin told reporters in Mirpur.
Saifuddin further added that he is now focussing on doing well in the upcoming Dhaka Premier League.
“My target is to play well in the Premier League. I am not thinking of whether I will get into the national team after playing DPL. What will happen will happen. I want to go match by match,” he added.
Saifuddin has been a consistent wicket-taker for the Asian ‘Tigers’ in white-ball cricket in the last 3 years. With 35 wickets in 22 ODIs, he is their second-leading wicket-taker, with only Mustafizur Rahman (58 wickets in 31 games) ahead of the pacer. In T20Is, the 25-year-old is Bangladesh’s 3rd most successful bowler since the start of 2019 with 26 wickets in 20 innings at an average of just over 20.