Why Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman are not playing today’s T20 World Cup 2021 match between South Africa and Bangladesh?

Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman: Bangladesh have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI for their fourth Super 12 match.

During the 30th match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021 between South Africa and Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma has won the toss and chose to field.

“We are gonna have a bowl first. There is a bit of grass. Looks a bit different. Good for our confidence. It is good that batting got us home. Looking at the wicket. We hope that it assists our bowlers,” Bavuma said at the toss.

Very much in contention of qualifying for the semi-finals, Bavuma confirmed that they will be taking the field with the same Playing XI ruling out a couple of injury concerns.

You’d say Bangladesh versus South Africa would always be a tie if we are talking national anthems. Could listen to both on repeat for hours #T20WorldCup #BANvSA

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) November 2, 2021

“Same team. Shams [Tabraiz Shamsi] is good and so is David [Miller]. We would want to improve our fielding,” Bavuma added.

Why are Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman not playing vs South Africa?

Much like Bavuma, Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah also wanted to field first. All but out of contention for Round 2, Bangladesh have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI. While all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been ruled out of the tournament, fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman has been rested.

“We would have bowled first. Mustafizur [Rahman] is missing. He is resting. Shakib [Al Hasan] has been our go to guy. It is a huge loss. It presents other guys a wonderful opportunity. The three games we have played, we were close to winning in two of those games. We would like to play some good cricket,” Mahmudullah said at the toss.

While Shamim Hossain has replaced Shakib in the Bangladeshi Playing XI, Nasum Ahmed has been included for Rahman. It goes without saying that Bangladesh resting Rahman has come as a bit of a surprise.

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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