Mushfiqur Rahim set to get his old role back

Bangladesh are all set to face Zimbabwe in a two-match Test series, commencing on 3 November at the Sylhet International Stadium. Former Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim is also set to get his old role, that of a wicket-keeper batsman, back.

Despite growing up as a wicket-keeper batsman during his age-group cricket days, Mushfiqur started his international career in 2005 as a specialist batsman at Lord's. Playing for a year as just a batsman, Mushfiqur donned the keeping gloves during Bangladesh's first ever T20I against Zimbabwe in Khulna, back in 2006.

Since then, Mushfiqur has been Bangladesh's number one wicket-keeper.

Musfiqur Rahim has represented Bangladesh in 331 international matches so far, and has kept wickets in 303 of them as a designated wicket-keeper. He has recorded 282 catches and 81 stumping to his name in the process.

But, in the recent past, he has been forced to hand over the gloves to others. Mushfiqur has always been reluctant to go away from keeping. Despite this, the team management decided to give the gloves to players like Liton Das and Nurul Hasan.

It has been a popular opinion in Bangladesh team management that Mushfiqur will be delivering more if he hands over wicket-keeping to someone else. But, he has always been keen to get back his wicket-keeping role.

"I still believe that wicket-keeping helps me in my batting. I can see how the wicket behaves during opposition's batting. Every batsman has their own way to get prepared to bat on as knocking before the match or something else. The wicket-keeping plays a huge role in preparation." Mushfiqur Rahim said to bdnews24.com on Tuesday.

The right-handed batsman has a contrasting view/ Mushfiqur said: "I have no objection in leaving the wicket-keeper role, but I know where I am more confident."

But, Mushfiqur's eagerness is not the reason behind his latest opportunity to keep wickets. Habibul Bashar, the former captain of Bangladesh who currently serves as a selector, said that the unavailability of Shakib Al Hasan has prompted them to include an extra bowler or batsman to the playing XI, and that's why they want Mushfiqur to keep wickets again.

"Unavailability of Shakib resulted in losing a specialist batsman and number-one bowler. So, it became necessary to add an extra bowler or batsman in the XI, and we have decided to give wicket-keeping back Mushfiqur to create a chance for an extra bowler or batsman." Habibul said on why they considered Mushfiqur for wicket-keeping again.