Mushfiq to skip West Indies tour for Hajj pilgrimage

Bangladesh will miss the service of veteran batter Mushfiqur Rahim in the upcoming West Indies tour next month as he took a leave for the Hajj pilgrimage. 

Jalal Yunus, chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) cricket operations committee, confirmed the matter to The Business Standard (TBS) on Saturday.

This year's Islamic pilgrimage is in July, for which Mushfiqur is likely to travel to Saudi Arabia on 22 June.

"He informed us before the Sri Lanka series that he wants to perform Hajj this year," Jalal Yunus, BCB's cricket operations chairman, said.

"When he got the confirmation, he gave us a letter wanting a leave. We approved his leave during the first Test. We had an initial thought that he might be available for part of the tour but he is unavailable for the whole tour."

Mushfiq became the first Bangladeshi batter to reach 5,000 runs in Tests in the Chattogram Test last week. 

The team is already without four key bowlers, all out with injuries. Taskin Ahmed is still rehabilitating a shoulder injury while Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Shoriful Islam, and Nayeem Hasan all have hand injuries.

Bangladesh are likely to head for the tour on June 5 to play two Tests, three T20Is, and three ODIs till mid-July.