Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh: Mustafizur Rahman ruled out for four weeks due to hamstring and knee injuries

Bangladesh has suffered a major setback with left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman being ruled out for the next four weeks due to a grade 1 muscle tear in his right hamstring and meniscal degeneration in his right knee. As a result, the experienced seamer will miss the remainder of Bangladesh's ongoing white-ball tour of Zimbabwe.

Mustafizur experienced discomfort while bowling during the opening ODI of the series on Monday, July 06. Medical scans conducted the following day confirmed the injuries, forcing the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to send the pacer back home for rehabilitation.

The 29-year-old featured in the first ODI, where he returned figures of 6-0-19-0 in Bangladesh's 25-run defeat while also batting at No. 10 during the chase of 142. He was unavailable for the second ODI on Thursday, with fellow left-arm seamer Shoriful Islam replacing him in the playing XI. Mustafizur will now miss not only the remainder of the ODI series but also the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe.

This is not the first injury concern for the Bangladesh quick in recent months. Earlier this year, Mustafizur had also struggled with a knee problem after returning from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) ahead of Bangladesh's ODI series against New Zealand in April. The injury sidelined him for the opening two ODIs before he made a strong comeback with a five-wicket haul in the third match. Following that, the BCB revoked his no-objection certificate (NOC), preventing him from returning to the PSL for the remainder of the tournament.

Litton Das ruled out of remainder of Zimbabwe ODI series

This is not the only injury concern the Bangladesh side is having in the ongoing Tour of Zimbabwe. Their star wicketkeeper batter Litton Das, too, is ruled out of the ODI series after suffering a hamstring injury.

Bangladesh will conclude their Zimbabwe tour on July 19 before shifting focus to a challenging two-match Test series in Australia, scheduled to begin on August 13. Both matches will be part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle.