|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director and Abahani coach Khaled Mahmud Sujon supported the BCB's decision not to extend Mustafizur Rahman's NOC for the IPL.

Sujon emphasized that the country's interests should be prioritised, and backed the decision of bringing him back for the upcoming Zimbabwe series.

Mustafiz is in stellar form in the ongoing IPL with CSK. The left-arm pacer claimed 10 wickets in five matches and currently holding the third position in the list of highest wicket-takers of the tournament.

However, the pacer will need to leave CSK’s camp and join the Bangladesh team for the five-match Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe, starting on May 3.

"At the end of the day, I believe, the country should always come first. I would've been glad if Mustafizur could've played the whole IPL. There would've been no issues if the national team didn't have any series. Now, some may say that the New Zealand cricketers are staying back for the IPL. But we don't have 10-12 bowlers like Mustafizur, we need to keep that in mind as well," said Sujon on Thursday.

However, Sujon also said that Bangladesh didn't need Mustafizur's services to beat Zimbabwe at home and the team might rest the pacer for a few matches in the series to keep him refreshed for the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup in June.

"Not really [needing Mustafizur to win against Zimbabwe]… Jalal also spoke about Mustafizur's workload management. Mustafizur might not even play in the first two matches," he added.