‘Winning series covers for missing IPL’
Pacer Taskin Ahmed, who returned to the country today after being ruled out of the second Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth with shoulder injury, said that playing for the country and contributing in a big way has covered for not being able to play the IPL.
IPL outfit Lucknow Super Giants were keen on getting Taskin's services for this season's IPL but BCB wanted Taskin to focus on the ODI and Test series in South Africa and Taskin obliged. He was happy with his performances against one of the big sides in international cricket, having bagged the man-of-the-series award following the Tigers' 2-1 victory in the ODI series.
"Always wanted to contribute in wins against big sides. Want to keep contributing so that we can win more series going forward as a team.
"As a player, anyone would want to play in the IPL. Since there was national duty at the time so there was nothing to do. The chance to play IPL arrived because I play for the country. The man of the series and the series win covers for that. If we can win the Test then it will be even better.
"There are no expectations (regarding call up for next IPL). If it happens then it will but if doesn't it won't matter but I want to play regularly for the country," Taskin, who returned to the country along with pacer Shoriful Islam, said at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport today.
Bangladesh battled hard in the first Test at Kingsmead but the fifth day saw them bundled out for just 53 runs. Taskin, who said he will be undergoing scans in a day or two to see the extent of his shoulder injury, was a bit disappointed to miss the second Test at Port Elizabeth.
"Things were going well till day four in the Test match but we played a bit badly on day five. We're hopeful of something good in the second Test.
"I wanted to do better in the first Test since I was going to miss the next one. I was also a bit hurt and it felt sad but hopefully I will be able to get back to the field soon," he said.
Taskin showed amazing fight and determination in the first Test as he bowled through his shoulder injury and kept Bangladesh in the game. His rise is synonymous to Bangladesh having the courage to take the fight to oppositions in away conditions. For Taskin there was no mystery to his recent performances.
"There is no mystery. I am doing the hard work in the right way. I have worked really hard in the last two to two-and-a-half years and the pace unit is working really hard too," he said.