Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said that Mustafizur Rahman was not dropped from the playing XI rather he was on the bench as part of the rotation policy.

After playing the first match of the Asia Cup in the group stage, Mustafizur didn’t get chance to play any match. Finally, he was slotted into the playing XI in the last match of the Super Four stage of the tournament against India. Bangladesh won the match with excellent death bowling by Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, and Tanzim Hasan Sakib. Mustafizur caught attention separately. He made an important contribution to the victory of the team by taking 3 wickets.

After the match, the head coach Chandika Hathurusinga praised Mustafizur. When asked by a reporter if it was a comfort to finally see Mustafizur among the wickets, the Sri Lankan coach replied, "What do you mean, relief?"

"He (Mustafizur) was not dropped. We've been rotating our players ahead of the World Cup. If you review our last few series, we've been ensuring everyone is match-ready. He is the most experienced among them, so he was the one who sat out most often. I'm aware of what he's capable of, so no, it's not a relief to see him perform," Hathurusingha said.

The coach also praised debutant Tanzim Hasan Sakib highly. Tanzim showed a resilient performance in his debut with a bowling figure of 7.5-1-32-2. The head coach of Bangladesh said Tanzim has a great chance to be in the main squad of the upcoming ODI World Cup.

"I don't think he did his chances any harm. He actually put his hands up for the World Cup selection. Until now we were thinking of trying to proceed without any injuries to our four fast bowlers. As you know Ebadot (Hossain) isn't there for the World Cup. I think (Tanzim) showed us what he is capable of. I am pretty confident that if I had to rely on him, he has done well for his chances," Hathurusingha added.