No one from the national team or management called to check up on me in the last five-and-a-half months during my injury: Saifuddin

Bangladesh national team all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin revealed that no one from the team management had contacted him for the last five-and-a-half months while he was out with an injury.

He had recently returned from England to get an assessment on back pain, one that had seen him out of competitive cricket since the T20 World Cup in UAE.

The all-rounder spoke to batting coach Jamie Siddons after he had returned from England last month and at that time he had revealed that he underwent scans in England and there was no injury.

Since then, he has been spending time at Feni as he was out of national team contention but reiterated that his initial rehabilitation has gone well.

"For the last three-four months, I was very worried about my back pain. After going through a lot of rehabilitation, I was able to fix things. I am a bit better now. Pacers can make silly mistakes and get injured and I have faced quite a few of them," Saifuddin, who has seen his career plagued by a back injury, told reporters at Mirpur today.

He was however worried and cautious regarding falling into another injury having returned from a break forced by injuries.

"No one has a hand in it [injury]. No one can say that I won't get injured again. I have been out due to this injury for seven-eight months and no one can say it [injury] will not return again," Saifuddin said.

Saifuddin was prioritising the Dhaka Premier League to return to competitive cricket. "My target is to play well in the Premier League. I am not thinking of whether I will get into the national team after playing DPL. What will happen will happen. I want to go match by match.

"I am not in the national side and I am not thinking of the national team. When I get back in the side I will think again. I have been out of the field for five-and-a-half months. No one from among the national team's coaching staff or management contacted me. So what can I say by myself? When the team feels I am required, I will talk about the national team. Now I am in Abahani and my focus is here," he reiterated.

Saifuddin had been doing his rehabilitation work at Feni. "Support staff is the most important. If that opportunity is not here, what can I do alone? Maybe I can bowl at the nets by myself, but I can't bat alone," he said.

Since the national team was under a managed bubble environment, Saifuddin was of the opinion that he would not have been able to use the facilities during the Afghanistan series. "Maybe I could have used it, but I would have had to come very early in the morning. Considering everything, it didn't happen. Since the Afghanistan series is over, the ground is open," he concluded.