Saifuddin targets national team return by 'playing well' in GT20 Canada

Pace bowling allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin shifted his focus to Canada's Global T20 League in his bid to force his case stronger to make a comeback to the national team. 

After a long injury-forced absence, Saifuddin made a return to the national team for a brief period by playing well in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and was a strong contender to play in the T20 World Cup. However, that was not to be as he lost his place to Tanzim Hasan Sakib due to his poor performance during the series against Zimbabwe at home.

Saifuddin admitted the axe from T20 World Cup team was disappointing for him but he didn't want to give up the hope rathe he wanted to bring himself into the discussion by playing well in Canada's Global T20 League.

Canada's domestic T20 season will begin at the end of this month. Saifuddin will play for the Montreal Tigers.

As there is no domestic game, for now, he is preparing himself for the Canadian league. 

"The only plan is to play well, so that more opportunities come to play the T20 league around the world. And since there is no domestic cricket, franchise league is the best option to force my case stronger. That's the main goal now," Saifuddin said at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium today.

The allrounder missed the chance to play Abu Dhabi T10 league in 2021 for Bangla Tigers due to his injury. Therefore the Canadian League will be his first franchise tournament.

Before the T20 World Cup, Saifuddin played against Zimbabwe at home. Despite taking eight wickets in the series, he was not considered for the World Cup-bound team largely due to his lack of death overs bowling skill. 

The selectors at that time reasoned that Saifuddin has lack of bowling Yorkers at will at the death overs and so Tanzim Hasan Sakib was chosen ahead of him. 

Tanzim Sakib however proved the faith of selectors in him preciously right by demonstrating a good performance in the T20 World Cup. His performance is believed to make Saifuddin's task far tougher. 

But Saifuddin sees the struggle on the way back to the national team in a positive way.

"Competition is always good. Tanzim Sakib is my teammate as we played together in Abahani. He bowled brilliantly in the World Cup. You have to think about yourself without thinking about whether someone will play well or someone will play badly. I will give my best when my opportunity comes." 

Since the pipeline of the national team is not strong enough, many players have survived despite their off form.

And because of this, Saifuddin believes that he will get a chance to play in the national team again.

"To be honest, we don't have many players outside of 20 to 25 players in Bangladesh. If I am fit, chances will come. If you look at other countries, there is a lot more competition but in Bangladesh, there are very few international quality players. I think it will be 20 to 25."

For this reason, Saifuddin always tries to keep himself fit, "I try to play well whenever I get a chance. I keep training always. Its true when I think more about the drop from the T20 World Cup, it feels worse. The feelings force my work to get disrupted so I keep working hard. I believe opportunities will come."