Photo: Firoz Ahmed
Bangladesh’s focus has turned to white-ball scheme, particularly with the Afghanistan ODI series slated to begin on July 5.
With ODI being the most important format, injuries to key stars have been an issue and selector Abdur Razzak reiterated that they are hopeful of getting Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal ready before the Afghanistan series. In addition, more importantly, they are focusing on keeping backup options open.
Shakib suffered an injury to his finger in the series against Ireland in England, while Tamim suffered lower back pain before the Afghanistan Test and it led to him being ruled out of the Test.
“Shakib has recovered well. Tamim has been doing well since the last session and has begun practice and batted. We are hoping to get them in the next series, but it’s still up to the medical team,” Razzak told the media yesterday.
While both stars have been named for the ODI series against Afghanistan, the BCB are keen to focus on backup options for injury replacements. Zakir Hasan, who was included in the ODI series against Ireland at home but had to be ruled out due to injury, did not make the Afghanistan ODI series team. However, his and Mohammad Naim’s recent form has seen their chances of being backup options improve with Naim already included in Afghanistan ODIs.
“Zakir has a chance of doing well in white-ball and he is in good form at the moment, which is important for us. It’s nothing significant but we require players according to team combination, so no one is being omitted as such. He has been doing well and we are thinking of whether he can be included in white-ball schemes.
“There is not much opportunity to change the ODI setup. Naim did well in the Premier League. His case is like that so if there is a problem, there is a player ready. Tamim was injured suddenly [ahead of Afghanistan Test] and if we didn’t have players ready, we would have been in a difficult situation,” Razzak said yesterday.
Razzak maintained that there was a difficulty for the likes of Anamul Haque Bijoy to ‘break into the side’ even as he was not out of the equation.
The squad for the Asia Cup was supposed to also be the World Cup squad but, according to Razzak, some changes may be forced due to injury or performances.
“We have to be open about a few aspects as there is the case of injury or performances.”
The squad for the Emerging Asia Cup in Sri Lanka lends credence to the idea of allowing such backup options to show their strengths ahead of the World Cup.
The Tigers were expected to hold their World Cup preparation camp in India but scheduling issues has seen BCB opt for home pastures. Following the Asia Cup in September, the Tigers will undergo their camp in August.
“Skill training will take place for the first 10 to 12 days. The venue is yet to be decided but our initial thoughts are to hold it in Sylhet or Chattogram. The rest of the time, that includes fitness and other training sessions, are likely to take place in Dhaka till the end of August,” cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus told the media yesterday.
