DHAKA, April 18, 2024 (BSS) - Khaled Mahmud Sujon, the head coach of Abahani Limited believes the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) decision to bring back Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League (IPL) is right one because the ‘country comes first’ always. 

Mustafizur is currently playing for Chennai Super Kings where he has been the form of his life, taking 10 wickets in five matches. Initially he was given NOC until April 30 but the BCB extended it by one day, just to give him the opportunity to play CSK’s match on May 1. 

He thereafter would have to return to the country to play the five-match T20 series against Zimbabwe at home. 

"What I believe at the end of the day is that the country should come first always," Mahmud said after Abahani's match against Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium today. 

"Had he (Mustafizur) played the whole IPL, I would have been happy. There would've been no issues if the national team didn't have any series. Now, some may argue that the New Zealand cricketers are staying back for the IPL. But you have to understand that they have no shortage of players. We don't have 10-12 bowlers like Mustafizur, we need to keep that in mind as well.” 

According to Mahmud, BCB has taken the correct decision to call back Mustafizur from the IPL even though it’s not uncommon for the cricket boards around the world to allow their players to play IPL, instead of International cricket. 

Yesterday, the chairman of the cricket operations of BCB Jalal Younus hogged the headline by saying that Mustafizur had nothing to learn by playing in the IPL.
 

Mahmud differed with his statement but said that Younus might have tried to mean it in other sense.  

"You can learn from everywhere. I think maybe he [Jalal] didn't mean it like that. He probably tried to mean that Mustafizur has been playing for many years, he is not a young pacer like Tanzim Hasan Sakib. He is already a very big name in world cricket. He probably meant it from that angle. The young Indian pacers can learn from Mustafizur, that's what he meant." 

Mahmud also believes that Bangladesh might give Mustafizur rest in the first two T20s against Zimbabwe in a bid to manage his workload. 

"Bangladesh indeed need not Mustafizur’s service to beat Zimbabwe. Jalal vai also spoke about Mustafizur's workload management. Mustafizur might not even play in the first two matches."