Hasan Mahmud to join Kent for County season

Bangladesh pace bowler Hasan Mahmud is all set to join Kent County Cricket Club this season, officials confirmed on Tuesday. Hasan's agent, Ihsaan Syed-Hussain, confirmed the development to Cricbuzz and added that the right-arm pacer is expected to be available for Kent's County Championship fixture against Lancashire on June 12.

Previously, Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan represented Worcestershire and Surrey in county cricket.

Hasan, who suffered a tennis elbow injury during the Bangladesh Premier League and consequently missed Bangladesh's home series against Pakistan, recently travelled to England and trained with Kent under the supervision of head coach Adam Hollioake.

Ihsaan, a British-born with Bangladeshi background, played a key role in facilitating the deal between Hasan and Kent.

"The plan is for him to be available for the match on June 12th (against Lancashire), which is the first game against Lancashire. That is the target they are working towards. We are hopeful the visa will be sorted by then. If not, then he will obviously have to debut in the following game on June 18th (against Middlesex), but the official plan is June 12th," Ihsaan said .

"To be precise, this wasn't a sudden deal. I have been planting the seeds for this move ever since Hasan took that five-wicket haul against India. From that point on, since I have a very good connection with the Kent County Cricket Club management and know their captain well, I approached them. I told the captain, "Listen, there's this guy named Hasan Mahmud playing for Bangladesh. He's doing great, and if he plays in County cricket, he will absolutely dismantle sides."

"They started monitoring him from there. They were actually very interested in him last year, during the 2025 season. However, Hasan had international commitments with series against Sri Lanka and Ireland at the time, so availability was an issue, and they couldn't sign him. But we kept a very close connection with Kent throughout, keeping the momentum going and ensuring they knew the interest was mutual," he said.

"At the start of this season, they showed strong interest again. Verbally, the head coach and management told us, "Look, we really want him this year." Everyone, including the captain, was incredibly keen on bringing Hasan in. But there were two main hurdles we had to navigate. The first was his exact window of availability. As we know with Bangladesh cricket, schedules can shift at the very last minute. It's not like other countries where the schedule is set in stone a year in advance. The second issue was that Kent already had their overseas slots filled at the time," he said.

"Then, everything changed. Hasan unfortunately suffered a tennis elbow injury and came over to England for rehab for a period of time. During that period, I contacted Kent again. Before this, they had verbally agreed to take him, but there was no official contract signed. Once Hasan arrived in the UK, I told Kent, "Hasan is here in the UK recovering from his injury. He has some bowling workloads to do as part of his rehab plan. Can he come over and bowl at your facilities?" he said.

"They immediately said, "Yeah, of course! We want to sign him anyway, so we are more than happy for him to use our facilities and practice here."

"That is why Hasan was bowling there. It wasn't an official trial; he was just doing his injury rehab. But while he was bowling there, the management got to see him face-to-face. Coincidentally, during this exact period, one of Kent's overseas slots opened up.

"I'm not entirely sure which specific player left, because they had three or four overseas players on rotation, including players from South Africa. But one slot became vacant. Once that happened, Kent came to us and said, "Listen, we can potentially make this work now. What is his exact availability looking like?" he said.

"We looked at the calendar and realized there was a perfect window. He could play two games in June and then return for four games in September. Kent agreed instantly. Everything aligned perfectly. Now, the contract is officially signed, everything is finalized, and we are just waiting on the visa. Once that arrives, he will fly over, play the June games, and fulfil his contract. In the meantime, he also secured a Lanka Premier League (LPL) deal. So his upcoming schedule is: play for Kent in June, play the bilateral series against Zimbabwe if selected, head to Sri Lanka for the LPL, followed by the series against Australia," he said.

"He will travel to Australia for the Test series, and then in September, he will fly back to England to play the remaining County games for Kent. The only County matches he will miss are the ones in August, but Kent is completely fine with that because they knew about the Australia series from the start. They said, "If he has to represent Bangladesh in Australia, no problem. He can play there and then come back to finish the season with us." So that's the full story behind the deal. It's been in the works in the background for a very long time, even though from the outside it might look like it happened overnight," he added.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials said they would be happy to see Hasan feature in county cricket, provided it does not clash with national commitments.

"We are open for him, and for that matter any cricketer, if that is not having an impact on his national commitment," Shahriar Nafees, BCB's cricket operations in-charge, told Cricbuzz when asked about Hasan's no-objection certificate for Kent.

Hasan recently received another boost after being picked by Colombo Kaps for the upcoming Lanka Premier League.

The fast bowler has played 13 Tests and claimed 36 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls and one four-wicket haul.

He also has an impressive white-ball record, having taken 33 wickets in 26 One-Day Internationals and 28 wickets in 26 T20 Internationals.