KARACHI: The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (PCB) medical department has confirmed that top-order batsman Dawhid Hiridoi will be available for the domestic white-ball series against New Zealand, international media reported on Thursday.
Hridoy, who was included in the Tigers’ squad for the domestic ODI series against Pakistan last month, has been struggling with a tennis elbow injury since the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) ended on March 3.
The PCB’s medical team, in an interview with an international cricket website, said Hirido’s injury had been repaired and the right-handed batsman continued to play, but the pain was too bad to hold the bat in the Pakistan series.
“Hridoy has been struggling with a tennis elbow injury. Usually, such a problem occurs with a batter’s upper arm. It usually comes from repetitive motion,” a member of the BCB medical department confirmed to the website on Thursday.
“This tennis elbow issue has been a little bit since the last PCL, but we managed it and he continued to play.
“Then in the last Pakistan series, I think the yorker hit the bottom of the bat, so his elbow was shaking with pain and it started increasing. It got worse and it hurt him even to hold the bat.”
A member of BCB’s medical team added that they are doing “advanced treatment” on Idi’s elbow so that he is hopeful that he will be available for the New Zealand series, but cautioned that he will not be completely free of pain.
“The rule here is that repetitive motion causes pain – it has to stop. We stop that and continue with everything else. We are doing all kinds of advanced treatments so that we can get him ready for the New Zealand series, and we hope he will be there for the series.
“However, it is very difficult to become 100% pain-free. It usually takes a year to recover. We have already advised him that there will be some pain and he will bear it. If he waits for complete pain-free, he will not be able to play cricket within a year.”
Notably, Bangladesh will play three ODIs and several T20Is in New Zealand. The home assignment will begin with the long-form series from April 17 to 23, while the T20I series will be held from April 27 to May 2.