Sylhet Strikers coach Rajin Saleh confirmed that Mashrafe Bin Mortaza won't return to the squad to play any match in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) this season, reports BSS.
Mashrafe has taken a break from the BPL to discharge his responsibility as the Whip in the Parliament.
Sylhet Strikers management earlier said Mashrafe will be available to play for the Strikers further in the season if there is opportunity in between his political commitments and schedule.
"But he has been extremely busy with his office duty (as a Whip). At this moment, there is hardly any chance that he would return to the side," Rajin Saleh told the reporters on Thursday in Chattogram. "We hope he will comeback in BPL in the next year."
Mashrafe played first three matches of BPL for Sylhet Strikers, but his own form and fitness level was not up to the mark.
Vice-captain Mohammad Mithun has been leading the side, but Sylhet's chance to finish as top four looks all bleak. They have so far registered three wins in nine matches and need to win the rest of the three matches if they want to give them any shot to play the playoffs.
"We didn't give up the hopes to play the playoffs. We will play the rest of the three matches to win. Our first target is to qualify (playoffs)," Saleh added.
"We struggled in the first part of BPL and lost quite some matches which made our task difficult. But it's T20 cricket and anything can happen, so we should take it as a challenge."
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
