Marufa Akter ruled out of New Zealand tour with ankle injury

Due to an injury to his ankle, Bangladesh's leading pacer Marufa Akter will not play in the upcoming tour of New Zealand.

The Bangladesh women's team are scheduled to depart Dhaka on December 4 for a white-ball series comprising three ODIs and as many T20Is. Marufa is currently on four weeks of bed rest and is expected to start walking again in the first week of December.

A top BCB official who works closely with the board's women's unit said, "She is unavailable for the tour of New Zealand because we don't want to rush her considering she is one of our premier cricketers and we need to make sure she returns back after recovering fully."

He stated, "The pain recurred in her ankle, and we don't want that to happen again. Therefore, we decided to give her as much time as necessary to ensure that she can bowl without any kind of discomfort going forward, because without full recovery, she will face difficulty doing bowling according to her strength."

In her right foot, Marufa has bone erosion at the base of the fifth metatarsal bone. The condition worsened recently and she is currently wearing an Aircast boot. It is understood that prior to the recent tour of Australia, she received an injection, but the treatment did not produce the anticipated response. This prompted the team management to rest her for the final game of the tour.