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.