Pakistan vs Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal ruled out of Test series due to thumb injury

DHAKA: Bangladesh opening batter Tamim Iqbal has been ruled out of the upcoming two-match Test series at home against Pakistan because of a thumb injury, ESPN Cricinfo reported on Monday.

According to Cricinfo, an X-ray report on Sunday revealed Tamim had a fracture on his left thumb, which he injured during a franchise Twenty20 match in Kathmandu last month.

“The fracture had almost healed but my thumb remained swollen,” Tamim said, adding, “So we wanted to have another X-ray, which revealed that there was a fracture.”

“Probably there were two, but it didn’t come out in the first scan. I can’t move it. The whole process has to start again,” the left-handed opening batter added. The first Test will be played in Chattogram from Nov 26 followed by the second in Dhaka from Dec 4.

Tamim was opted out of this year’s Twenty20 World Cup citing a lack of game time as he recovered from a knee injury. Bangladesh, who were knocked out in the group stage at the T20 World Cup, are due to play three T20 matches against Pakistan in Dhaka starting from Friday.

Pakistan T20 Squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Wasim Jnr, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir.