Can you imagine a pace bowler without injury? The fate of Bangladeshi fast bowler Shariful Islam is much better than that.
Although Shariful’s international career is about a year old, he has not faced any major injury so far, but this time he has to go under the scissors of a doctor. Shariful needs surgery due to physical problems. Shariful himself said he would undergo surgery in Singapore later this month (April).
The young fast bowler went on a tour of South Africa with the national team a few days ago. Despite playing in all three matches of the three-match ODI series during the tour, Shariful was not seen in the test series. Bangladesh also won that ODI series. He dropped out of the test series mainly due to an ankle injury. However, Shariful has somehow recovered from that injury. He had to undergo surgery as his physical condition was not completely resolved.
Shariful will recover completely after the surgery. That’s why the cricketer said he would board a flight to Singapore in the last week of this month. “We will go to Singapore on April 25 or 26.” Shariful said. “Then there will be surgery. I hope I will be completely healed.” he added. Shariful also spoke about the possibility of playing in the Sri Lanka series. According to him, depending on time to recover from the surgery he will decide whether he will play in the Sri Lanka series or not.
Test pacers, in particular, suffer the most injuries. Just like bowling with a long run-up, there is the hassle of bowling for a long time. Throughout the career, a pacer suffers from mostly ankle injury. The same is true for Shariful. Shariful has played only 3 Tests for the country so far. The young fast bowler has taken only 6 wickets in five innings. The best bowling figure is 3 for 99. However, Shariful has already become an important member of the team with his speed, pace and variation, though not much can be verified with statistics.
Meanwhile, Shariful is enriching himself by visiting local and foreign coaches. A few days ago he worked in South Africa with Alan Donald. Shariful is very happy to get a tip from this former Protea star. He wants more like that in future. Shariful said, ”His (Donald) philosophy is very good. He gave me time separately. In fact, I would like to take this opportunity. ”