Officials of the Bangladesh Cricket Board have revealed that Nahid Rana, who had been sidelined with a grade-two side strain, is experiencing weakness in the lower back and pelvic area, which has continued to keep him out of action.
Cricbuzz earlier reported that the BCB will assess Rana’s injury with an eye on the Test series against West Indies towards the end of October. According to sources, there was no injury detected in the scan but the bowler is experiencing pain due to lack of strength.
The BCB intends to send Rana abroad for a second opinion but sources close to the development said that if the medical unit’s assessment proves correct, the speedster will be out for four to eight weeks to regain his strength. It will in turn rule him out of the West Indies series and cast a doubt over his availability for a portion of the South Africa tour that follows.
“As for his current problem, we suspect that he lacks strength. It will take some time to build that strength back up. It’s not something that can happen overnight,” a BCB official confirmed to Cricbuzz.
“He isn’t currently injured. He hasn’t been playing. He can run, and his running looks good. But when he tries to bowl, he feels pain. We’re noticing some weakness in the back and pelvic area. We suspect that the pain he is experiencing is due to this weakness. His scans haven’t revealed anything that would indicate an injury.”
The official added that the scans showed no indication of inflammation, hence the suspicion that the pain is due to weakness.
“Our plan is to build up his strength. The problem is that once we’ve improved his strength, we then have to consider his workload and how to increase it safely,” he said.
“He has also just come back from two consecutive injuries. First, he had pain in his shin bone, which prevented him from running. Then he suffered a side strain, which meant he couldn’t do lower-limb activities. As a result, he went quite a long time without being able to do strength-building exercises for his lower body. Now, when he has returned to bowling he is experiencing pain as he hasn’t yet been able to address those weaknesses. We’re now going to put him through exercises to address that,” he added.
The official acknowledged that it was hard to predict a timeline for when Rana would be ready to play.
“There’s a difference between being ready to participate and being ready to perform. I might be able to say when he’s ready to participate, but it’s difficult to say when he’ll be ready to perform at his best or when he’ll be able to return to play competitively. Theoretically speaking, it could take an average of six weeks. It could happen sooner, or it could take longer. So, it’s very difficult to predict at this stage,” he said.
“We’re taking a longer-term view. We’re looking at a four-to-eight-week timeframe, and perhaps it will be somewhere in the middle of that range. At this point, what matters to us is not which matches he might miss because of this. We want to make sure he completes his rehabilitation properly and comes back fully fit,” he added.
The BCB official insisted that arrangements are being made to fly Rana out for a second opinion, while he already holds an Australian visa that can help him in getting treated there if required. However, there are other visa-related issues that present a roadblock.
“Getting a visa for Qatar isn’t easy at the moment; they’re not readily available. Qatar would have been ideal because Aspetar in Qatar is currently one of the best sports medicine facilities in this region,” the official said.
“We might be able to get a visa for Singapore more easily, but there could be another problem: how familiar are they with this particular type of rehabilitation? That’s a concern. We’re exploring options in Singapore and Australia as well. We’re trying to arrange an initial discussion via video conference to discuss the case,” he added.
A member of the national selection panel confirmed to Cricbuzz that there is no urgency to push Rana back until he attains full fitness.
“We don’t want to rush him as we feel he should be given whatever time is required to return fully fit. Because if that is not the case this problem might recur again due to lack of strength, provided that is the case,” the aforementioned selection panel member said.
After Bangladesh host West Indies for two Tests starting October 28, they are set to tour South Africa for two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is with the tour set to commence on November 15.
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