Bangladesh 'not considering' Nahid Rana for Asian Games 2026: report

KARACHI: Bangladesh will be without their express pacer Nahid Rana for the cricket competition of this year's Asian Games, international media reported on Tuesday.

Rana, who missed Bangladesh's recently concluded two-match away Test series against Australia due to a side strain injury he sustained during their white-ball tour of Zimbabwe, made his long-awaited return to bowling in the nets after a gap of six weeks at the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Academy in Dhaka.

But, despite the positive development, Rana is unlikely to turn up for Bangladesh in the men's cricket competition of the Asian Games, scheduled to be played from September 24 to October 1, as BCB chief selector Habibul Bashar insisted that they were not willing to take a risk with the right-arm speedster.

Bashar further shared that Rana will continue his rehabilitation and will return to their multi-format series against Afghanistan in October.

"We are not considering Nahid Rana for the Asian Games owing to his rehabilitation process," Habibul told Cricbuzz on Monday.

"He (Rana) will return with the Afghanistan series. It remains to be seen whether he will play Test or ODI. But it is 100% confirmed that he will not play in the Asian Games," he added.

It is pertinent to mention that the men's cricket competition of the Asian Games 2026 will feature 10 teams, with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka seeded directly into the quarter-finals.

The remaining six teams — Afghanistan, Nepal, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Malaysia and Oman — will compete for places in the knockout stage.