Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed is eyeing to quit Test cricket due to his injury as he wants to focus on white-ball cricket to prolong his international career.

Taskin, who played 13 Tests from 2017 to 2023 and picked up 30 wickets, had already sent a letter to Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) in this regard and was waiting for their reply.

“He (Taskin) had sent a letter stating that he doesn’t want to play longer-version cricket. After the game (of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League) is over, we will sit with him in this regard,” BCB cricket operation chairman Jalal Yunus told the Daily Sun on Saturday.

“Let the coach (head coach Chandika Hathurusingha) come and we need to talk with him as well,” he further added.

It was learnt Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha is aware about the development and asked the 28-year-old pacer whether he can change his mind.

BCB’s chief selector Minhajul Abedin said that they need to sit with physicians of the board and later make a call in this regard.

“He (Taskin) is our across format contracted player. We have to talk with our doctors (of BCB) and get a report on his injury status and later can make a decision in this regard,” Minhajul opined.    

Taskin suffered a tear in his shoulder during last year’s ICC World Cup 2023 in India which forced him to miss a couple of matches in the global event.

Following the event, Taskin was sent to a rehabilitation program to regain full fitness and start competitive cricket again.

At this time, he missed the two-match Test series at home against New Zealand and white-ball return tour that followed soon after.

However, the pacer made a comeback to competitive cricket with the ongoing BPL, country’s lone franchise-based T20 tournament.

Taskin, who is featuring for Durdanto Dhaka in the ongoing BPL, is playing the tournament by managing him and doing rehabilitation on regular basis.

Taskin admitted after their defeat against Sylhet Strikers on Friday that he is still looking to get back into his full rhythm.

“I was in rehab after the World Cup. Thanks to the Almighty my rhythm is getting better than before but I am still not at the best rhythm but it is improving,” Taskin told reporters following their defeat at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

Taskin is reluctant to go under the knife for the shoulder injury as that will require him to stay away from cricket for more than a year to recover fully following the surgery.

In the recent past, Taskin was not given NOC to take part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as BCB was not ready to take risk with the injury prone pacer ahead of the ICC World T20 2024, scheduled to be held on 1-29 June in West Indies and USA.

It was learnt that Taskin went to meet some BCB high-ups at the board's office recently so as to get permission to skip the Zimbabwe series, but that didn't eventualize.

Taskin can surely claim to be unlucky when it comes to IPL. He missed the chance in 2022 when Lucknow Super Giants wanted to sign him as Mark Wood's replacement but BCB didn't release him.

Another Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman also requested the board not to consider him red-ball cricket due to his injury as he wants to focus on white-ball cricket.

BCB only granted NOC to Mustafizur for the IPL as he is not part of longer-version cricket while decided to go against Taskin and Shoriful Islam as both (Taskin and Shoriful) of them represent the country in longer-version cricket.