Mushfiqur to miss Australia T20 series over isolation norms

Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim will miss next month's five-match T20 home series against Australia over strict isolation norms, reports UNB.

As per the conditions set by Cricket Australia, every Bangladeshi cricketer needs to be quarantined for at least 14 days ahead of the T20 series. Mushfiqur missed this isolation deadline even after coming back without playing the ODI series in Zimbabwe.

Mushfiqur flew back home from Harare on 14 July after knowing that his parents had contracted Covid-19. To fulfil the requirement of the 14-day mandatory quarantine before the series, Mushfiqur needed to isolate himself by 20 July, but he missed the deadline due to family commitments.

Mushfiqur wanted to isolate himself on 22 July, but the operations committee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) told him that "it won’t work now".

“Mushfiqur wanted to play the series, but he missed the deadline by two days,” Akram Khan, the chair of cricket operations of BCB, told the media. “A specific quarantine period is in our agreement with Cricket Australia. So, we cannot include Mushfiqur now. We talked to them, but they did not agree."

The first match of the series will take place on 3 August, while the other matches will be played on 4, 6, 7 and 9 August. All the matches will take place at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.