Rhodes brushes aside Saifuddin’s fitness concern

“I am not worried about Saifuddin,” Rhodes told reporters during the ongoing series.

“The physio is also quite happy with his injury situation as it is far better than it was a couple of weeks ago,” he said.

“Let the opposition take him on before you make that comment”, he said when a journalist raised a question over his fitness.

“He is a wonderful cricketer and is maturing nicely. He has come back to the side and is showing what he can do”, Rhodes concluded.

 There are whispers around Saifuddin’s fitness as he suffered right tennis elbow injury in the recent past.

Saifuddin's recuperation was somewhat scuppered after he opted to play in the Dhaka Premier League for his side Abahani Limited regardless of his injury.

The pace bowling all-rounder was expected to take an injection after returning from the tour of New Zealand to get complete recovery from the elbow injury.

But he failed to take the required injection as he had to appear for Abahani Limited.

It is learnt that the national team physio Thian Chandramohan had advised Saifuddin to take the required injection instead of playing in the DPL.

But Saifuddin did not follow Chandramohan's instructions as it would have forced him out of the competitive cricket for at least three weeks.

Since his debut in April 2017 with a T20I match against Sri Lanka, Saifuddin has been around the Bangladesh team. He also got his ODI debut against South Africa later that year, but failed to perform well.

In an ODI match, Saifuddin was hit for five consecutive sixes by David Miller on his way to a 35-ball century. And subsequent failures cost his place in the team.

But he proved his worth when he returned against Zimbabwe in October 2018, when he put up a match winning 127-run stand with Imrul Kayes and picked up three wickets with the ball.

With good pace and more than handy batting, Saifuddin can provide great services to the team in the World Cup as the conditions in England will suit him much.

With nine wickets at an average of 46.67 and 175 runs averaging near 30 in 11 ODI matches, Saifuddin is yet to do justice to his talents.

But he is an exciting prospect who is set for a great future, and Bangladesh can surely bank on him.