Why Mushfiqur Rahim is not playing today’s T20 World Cup match between India and Bangladesh in Adelaide?

Former Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim is not playing the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Match 35 against India in Adelaide. For the unversed, Rahim is not even part of Bangladesh’s 15-member squad for this world event.

Having faced immense flak for his “not here to win” comment on the eve of an India-Bangladesh World Cup T20I, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and chose to bowl due to the presence of poor weather forecast for this match.

“We will bowl first. There is rain predicted. We don’t know what is a good score on this wicket. Big game. We are well prepared today. Boys are gelling well. We have been playing with this side for some time. We need to continue doing the good things,” Shakib told the broadcaster at the toss.

Unlike his counterpart, India captain Rohit Sharma had eyes on batting first tonight. Hence, he wasn’t too concerned in spite of losing the toss in their penultimate Super 12 match.

“We would have batted first. Runs on the board would matter. We would look to bat well. Hopefully, we can play some good cricket and get those two points. Good ground and good atmosphere here,” Sharma told the broadcaster at the toss.

Why Mushfiqur Rahim is not playing ICC T20 World Cup 2022?

The only change to the Bangladeshi Playing XI for this match was made in the form of pacer Shoriful Islam playing in place of all-rounder Soumya Sarkar.

As far as Rahim is concerned, readers must note that he had retired from T20Is about a couple of months ago. The 35-year old player took the decision to focus on the remaining two formats in international cricket.

Rahim, who had led Bangladesh in 23 T20Is between 2011-2014 including ICC World Twenty20 2012 and 2014 in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, scored 1,500 runs in 93 T20I innings at an average and strike rate of 19.48 and 115.03 respectively. T20 World Cup 2022 is the first among its eight editions to be played without Rahim’s participation.

India, meanwhile, also made a long change to their Playing XI by bringing in all-rounder Axar Patel for Deepak Hooda.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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