Bangladesh allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin has opened up on his recurring back injury that has ravaged his cricketing plans, ruled him out of the multiple series and also shattered his dream of playing the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL).
Saifuddin was a crucial member of Bangladesh’s squad in the ICC World Cup 2019. He grabbed eyeballs after playing an impressive knock of 51 not-out against India in the tournament, albeit in the losing cause. However, the nagging injury has been his constant companion, also forcing him to miss an important clash against Australia in Nottingham.
Thereafter, the 23-year-old played three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka and a T20I series against India.
Saifuddin revealed that the Indian legend VVS Laxman was impressed with his performance and called Srinivas Chandrasekharan, who works as an analyst for both Bangladesh and Sunrisers Hyderabad to enquire about him.
“You can say playing in the IPL is my dream. When I played in the last match at the Lord’s, (against Pakistan in the 2019 World Cup), VVS Laxman came to enquire about me. Our (Bangladesh) performance analyst is India’s Srinivas Chandrasekharan and he works in the Sunrisers Hyderabad as well. He wanted to know how I would fare in the IPL. But injury destroyed everything,” Saifuddin told BDcrictime.
The fast-bowling allrounder further remarked that even MS Dhoni wanted to acquire him for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He got to know this information from Lakshmi Narayan, who worked as a performance analyst for both CSK and Dhaka Platoons.
“I was close to a chance. I heard that CSK had a discussion about me. Laxmi was our (Dhaka Platoon) video analyst as well. He told me, ‘Dhoni has talked about you’. I replied, ‘You do everything, but have an allergy towards Bangladesh cricketers’.”
“He said, ‘See, I’m not lying’. I said, ‘We are not someone to be pushed back’. He replied ‘See, I sent this bowling video of yours to Dhoni’. In the video, I could see Dhoni telling, ‘Ok’. They wanted to take me, but I missed due to injury. Hence they didn’t show interest in me and Josh Hazlewood was picked,” Saifuddin concluded.
