Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud to join Kent for County season

Bangladesh pace bowler Hasan Mahmud is all set to join Kent County Cricket Club this season, officials confirmed on Tuesday. Hasan's agent, Ihsaan Syed-Hussain, confirmed the development to Cricbuzz and added that the right-arm pacer is expected to be available for Kent's County Championship fixture against Lancashire on June 12. Shakib Al Hasan, a Bangladeshi all-rounder, used to play county cricket for Surrey and Worcestershire. Hasan, who suffered a tennis elbow injury during the Bangladesh Premier League and consequently missed Bangladesh's home series against Pakistan, recently travelled to England and trained with Kent under the supervision of head coach Adam Hollioake. Hasan and Kent came to an agreement thanks in large part to Ihsaan, a Bangladeshi-born British citizen. "The plan is for him to be available for the match on June 12th (against Lancashire), which is the first game against Lancashire. They are working toward achieving that goal. We anticipate that the visa will be processed by then. Ihsaan stated, "If not, then he will obviously have to make his debut in the subsequent game on June 18 (against Middlesex), but the official plan is for June 12." To be precise, this was not a one-time transaction. I have been planting the seeds for this move ever since Hasan took that five-wicket haul against India. From that point on, since I have a very good connection with the Kent County Cricket Club management and know their captain well, I approached them. "Listen, there's this guy named Hasan Mahmud playing for Bangladesh," I said to the captain. He's doing great, and if he plays in County cricket, he will absolutely dismantle sides." "They started monitoring him from there. They were actually very interested in him last year, during the 2025 season. However, Hasan had international commitments with series against Sri Lanka and Ireland at the time, so availability was an issue, and they couldn't sign him. But we kept a very close connection with Kent throughout, keeping the momentum going and ensuring they knew the interest was mutual," he said. "At the start of this season, they showed strong interest again. Verbally, the head coach and management told us, "Look, we really want him this year." Everyone, including the captain, was incredibly keen on bringing Hasan in. However, we had to get around two main obstacles. The first was his exact window of availability. As we know with Bangladesh cricket, schedules can shift at the very last minute. In contrast to other nations, where the schedule is established a year in advance, this one is flexible. The second issue was that Kent already had their overseas slots filled at the time," he said. "Then, everything turned around. Hasan unfortunately suffered a tennis elbow injury and came over to England for rehab for a period of time. I got in touch with Kent once more during that time. Before this, they had verbally agreed to take him, but there was no official contract signed. "Hasan is here in the UK recovering from his injury," I informed Kent when Hasan arrived in the UK. He has some bowling workloads to do as part of his rehab plan. Can he visit your facilities to bowl?" He stated. "They immediately said, "Yeah, of course! We want to sign him anyway, so we are more than happy for him to use our facilities and practice here." "Hasan was bowling there because of that. It wasn't an official trial; he was just doing his injury rehab. But while he was bowling there, the management got to see him face-to-face. One of Kent's overseas slots arose coincidentally at precisely this time. "They had three or four overseas players on rotation, including South African players, so I'm not entirely sure which player left. But one slot became vacant. Once that happened, Kent came to us and said, "Listen, we can potentially make this work now. What exactly is his availability like?" he said. "We looked at the calendar and realized there was a perfect window. He could play two games in June and then return for four games in September. Kent was quick to agree. Everything aligned perfectly. Everything is finished, the contract has been signed, and we just need to get the visa. He will fly over, participate in the June games, and fulfill his contract when that arrives. In the meantime, he also secured a Lanka Premier League (LPL) deal. So his upcoming schedule is: play for Kent in June, play the bilateral series against Zimbabwe if selected, head to Sri Lanka for the LPL, followed by the series against Australia," he said. "He will travel to Australia for the Test series, and then in September, he will fly back to England to play the remaining County games for Kent. The only County matches he will miss are the ones in August, but Kent is completely fine with that because they knew about the Australia series from the start. They said, "If he has to represent Bangladesh in Australia, no problem. He can play there and then come back to finish the season with us." So that's the full story behind the deal. It's been in the works in the background for a very long time, even though from the outside it might look like it happened overnight," he added. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials said they would be happy to see Hasan feature in county cricket, provided it does not clash with national commitments. The fast bowler has played 13 Tests and claimed 36 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls and one four-wicket haul. He also has an impressive white-ball record, having taken 33 wickets in 26 One-Day Internationals and 28 wickets in 26 T20 Internationals.