DHAKA, Nov 15, 2021 (BSS)- Bangladesh received a major blow ahead of their

forthcoming home series against Pakistan after opener Tamim Iqbal was ruled
out due to a thumb injury.

  Tamim though skipped three-match T20 series against Pakistan, who was eying
a comeback to the national fold with two-match Test series, which is the part
of World Test Championship (WTC).

  Even though his strike rate often raised a question about his usefulness in
the limited over cricket, Tamim still remains by far the most assured
component in Bangladesh's Test squad.

  The left-hand batsman started the net session last week to prepare for the
Test series but went for an x-ray as he felt uncomfortable during batting
against pace bowlers.

  The report revealed that he had a fracture on his left thumb, which he had
earlier injured during an Everest Premier League match in Kathmandu last
month.

  "A thumb injury ruled Tamim out of the Pakistan series," Bangladesh Cricket
Board (BCB) chief selector Minhajul Abedin said.

  "The swelling has not healed and due to that reason he had another x-ray.
It revealed he is having a fracture that was not found out previously," he
added.

  Bangladesh will take on Pakistan for the first of the three T20Is on
November 19 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. The second and
third T20Is will be on November 20 and 22 respectively at the same venue. All
the T20Is will be starting from 2:00pm as per Bangladesh Standard Time (BST).

  The teams will then travel to Chattogram to play the first Test from
November 26 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. They will then return to
Dhaka for the final fixture of the tour, the second Test, which will be
played from December 4 in Mirpur.