Knee injury to keep Tamim Iqbal out for at least two months

Tamim Iqbal will miss competitive cricket for at least two months because of a knee injury. He will return home from Harare after the ongoing ODI series against Zimbabwe - the third game is taking place today - and miss the entire three-match T20I series as well as the upcoming T20I series against Australia and New Zealand at home.

"Tamim will return home alongside Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam from the ODI side," Minhajul Abedin, Bangladesh's chief selector, said. "Tamim has been advised to rest for six to eight weeks. He won't be able to play against Australia [in August] and New Zealand [in September] at home, but he might play against England [in October]. We have asked Rubel (Hossain), (Mohammad) Mithun and Mosaddek (Hossan) to stay back with the T20I side as part of our contingency plan for the Australia series.

"We have to keep players in quarantine for ten days ahead of the Australia series bio-bubble. We want to have as many options as possible as we won't be able to call up players from outside the bio-bubble."

Iqbal reportedly sustained the injury in Sri Lanka in April, but recovered enough to play the ODI series against them in May. He also played 11 matches in the T20 Dhaka Premier League, but the injury forced him to miss the Super League phase of the competition.

He went on to miss the one-off Test against Zimbabwe earlier this month, before saying that he would "manage" the injury and play the ODI series, chiefly because it is part of the World Cup Super League.

The decision to take time off came following a recommendation from Dr David Young, the Melbourne-based orthopedic surgeon, who many Bangladesh cricketers, including Iqbal and Mashrafe Mortaza, have consulted over the years.

Australia are expected to arrive in Dhaka next week to play five T20Is, scheduled from August 2 to 8. New Zealand are likely to play three or five T20Is in Dhaka starting early September, before England arrive in October to play three ODIs and three T20Is.