Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal has been ruled out of their two-Test series at home against Pakistan because of a thumb injury, ESPN Cricinfo reported.

       Cricinfo said an X-ray report on Sunday revealed Tamim had a fracture on his left thumb, which he injured during a franchise Twenty20 match in Kathmandu last month.

       “The fracture had almost healed but my thumb remained swollen,” Tamim said. “So we wanted to have another X-ray, which revealed that there was a fracture.

       “Probably there were two, but it didn't come out in the first scan [...] I can't move it. The whole process has to start again.”

       Tamim opted out of this year's Twenty20 World Cup citing a lack of game time as he recovered from a knee injury.

       Bangladesh, who were knocked out in the group stage at the T20 World Cup, are due to play three T20 matches against Pakistan in Dhaka starting from Friday.

       The first Test will be played in Chattogram from Nov 26 followed by the second in Dhaka from Dec 4.