Mashrafe out of Asia Cup

Bangladesh pacer Mashrafe-bin-Mortaza has been ruled out of the ongoing five-nation Asia Cup cricket tournament due to an injury, national cricket team’s physio Bibhab Singh has said. He said the decision had been taken to give the pacer adequate rest to recover before the commencement of Twenty20 World Cup. Chief Selector Faruk Ahmed said pacer Shafiul Islam will replace Mortaza. Singh said the pacer had played the last match against India with ‘side strain’. Injury has followed the ace bowler since the start of his career. His last Test dates back to July 2009. But he has been a regular in the limited over cricket. He led the team in the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka this month, according to bdnews24.com.