Bangladesh 'hopeful' of Taskin Ahmed's return for T20 World Cup opener against Sri Lanka

Dhaka: Bangladesh Cricket Board's chief physician Debashish Chowdhury has confirmed that pacer Taskin Ahmed, who is undergoing rehabilitation in the USA, will recover in time from his injury and will be available for their T20 World Cup 2024 opening match against Sri Lanka on June 8.

Taskin was named in Bangladesh's 15-member squad for the T20 pinnacle despite healing from the displaced fracture in the rib region on the right side. However, Debashish Chowdhury is satisfied with the pacer's progress following the recent MRI scan result.

He added that Taskin will resume bowling with the short run-up in the coming days.

"Taskin's improvement is very good and satisfying. He is going through a rehabilitation process and undergoing gym training. He is doing running sessions and we will introduce bowling later," Debashish Choudhury told Cricbuzz.

"We just got the reports (of the MRI scan) and talked to the doctor, and it seemed the fracture is almost healed and now we will slowly introduce him to short run-up bowling and later increase the intensity. He is not having any problem with running and now we will be doing throwing sessions in the coming days before starting to bowl with short run-ups. We are hopeful he will be available from the opening game of the World Cup if he continues to progress in this manner," he added.

The 29-year-old pacer is currently travelling with the team for the three-match T20I series against the USA. Bangladesh lost the first two matches and will play for pride in the final game of the series on Saturday.

Taskin last featured in the first four T20Is against Zimbabwe before missing out on the final match of the series. He scalped eight wickets and was named Player of the Series for his performance.

Bangladesh have also added pacer Hasan Mahmud as a travelling reserve for Taskin to tackle any adversary. Before heading to the T20 World Cup, Bangladesh will play two warm-up fixtures against the USA on May 28 and against India on June 1.