Tigers get favourable news on Taskin

Pacer Taskin Ahmed's injury had been a big talking point ahead of the announcement of Bangladesh's T20 World Cup squad. Speculations grew before he was eventually included but there were doubts regarding his availability for Bangladesh's initial games.

Paceman Hasan Mahmud, who was included in the squad for the ongoing three-match T20I series against the USA, was also included as a reserve player in case Taskin would be unable to recover. A pending MRI scan was supposed to clear the air and the BCB medical department has gotten positive feedback on Taskin's injury following the scan on Thursday.

He suffered the injury in the fourth T20I of the recently-concluded Zimbabwe series which left him with an undisplaced fracture on the right side of his rib cage.

"His improvement is very good and satisfying. He is going through the rehabilitation process and undergoing gym. He is doing running sessions and we will introduce bowling later," BCB chief physician Dr. Debashish Chowdhury told The Daily Star over phone yesterday.

"We just got the reports [of the MRI scan] and talked to the doctor and we will follow a standard protocol. We will slowly get him to bowling according to the protocol. Our plan is to have him available for the first game [in the World Cup] and we are hopeful," Debashish added.

The fracture has also been mending and Debashish informed that it has 'almost healed.'

Bangladesh will start their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka on June 8 in Dallas.