Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan joined the World Cup squad earlier than expected, after a brief visit to Dhaka to work on some “technical issues” with his childhood mentor, Nazmul Abedeen Fahim. The 36-year-old struggled to get going in the middle, which led to the team’s failure in the marquee event.
The all-rounder left for Bangladesh on October 25 after the team’s humiliating loss against South Africa in Mumbai, citing personal reasons.
However, the team management was unaware of the actual reason for his departure. Team director Khaled Mahmud later revealed that Shakib had gone to Dhaka to work on some technical assessment of his batting for the remaining games of the ODI World Cup.
According to the reports, Shakib Al Hasan returned to Dhaka on Wednesday and immediately proceeded to the Shere Bangla National Stadium to work with Abedeen Faheem to fine-tune his skillset. Shakib mostly took throw-downs in the nets throughout the three-hour practice session.
The left-handed all-rounder has been struggling with his batting in the ongoing 2023 World Cup, scoring only 56 runs in four innings at an average of 14.00 and a strike rate of 64.46.
Shakib was a key player in Bangladesh’s 2019 World Cup campaign in England, where he scored over 600 runs and was among the leading run-scorers of the tournament but failed to make an impact in the ongoing ODI World Cup.
As per a report by ESPN Cricinfo, Bangladesh’s captain, Shakib Al Hasan, arrived at the team hotel around 8:45 PM on Thursday, October 26th, after taking the evening flight from Dhaka. Meanwhile, the rest of the team continued their practice at the Eden Gardens under the lights.
It Can Happen But We Should’ve Bowled Better – Shakib Al Hasan
Earlier. speaking on Bangladesh’s loss to South Africa, Shakib Al Hasan feels that they bowled really well in the initial part of the innings before Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen took the game away from them in the death overs and admitted that they should have bowled a lot better to the Proteas batters at the end.
“We bowled the first 25 overs well. We got three wickets, they were going at about 5 an over. From there they kicked on. Quinton batted really well, and the way Klaasen finished was something we didn’t have any answer to. On a ground like this, it can happen but we should’ve bowled better. Lost the game in the last 10 overs,” Shakib Al Hasan said.
Bangladesh hasn’t had a good World Cup 2023 thus far. Bangla Tigers lost four straight matches after defeating Afghanistan in their opening match at Dharamsala. Bangladesh’s next two matches are against the Netherlands on October 29 and Pakistan on October 31 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.