Bruised and battered in their previous two games, Bangladesh are desperately hoping that their captain and arguably their most valuable player Shakib Al Hasan recovers in time before the crunch World Cup 2023 game against hosts India in Pune on October 19.

The veteran all-rounder suffered a left quad injury in their last outing against New Zealand and remains a doubtful starter for Bangladesh’s next fixture. Shakib injured himself while taking a single but continued to bat for a while. He also bowled his full quota of 10 overs but was seen clearly in pain. Later, he underwent a scan in Chennai, but reportedly, he is pain-free.

Advertisement

Bangladesh’s team director Khaled Mahmud on Monday said they will monitor the skipper closely during Tuesday’s training session at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) stadium.

“Shakib is getting better. He is pain-free. But we will know the full scenario when he hits the nets tomorrow. He will also do running between the wickets. We are hopeful that he can play against India. He worked in a swimming session, and some upper-half work in the gym today. There will be a scan tomorrow which will give us a clearer picture of his situation,” Mahmud said.

Mahmud said that the star all-rounder is in the mood to take the field against India, but the team management will take a decision only after seeing his improvement in the next couple of days.

“Usually these injuries produce a lot of pain. It is tough to walk around even. Shakib is quite well. It is giving us hope,” he said.

“Shakib wants to play, so if the situation is that he is 85-90 percent fit, like he was in the last game after getting injured, we are hopeful too. But it depends on his 100 percent fitness.”

Mahmud, a former Bangladesh captain, however, made it clear that the team management will not risk Shakib with six matches remaining in the campaign.

“We don’t want him to miss the rest of the tournament after playing one more game. There are six matches remaining. It is the doctor and physio’s call. We don’t want to trouble him in the long term. If he gets clearance from the physio, he will play,” he said.

The Bangladesh team was given a two-day break in Pune and they will return to training on Tuesday. They have so far won only one (against Afghanistan) of their three games.

India, on the other hand, are on a rampage, having pocketed three victories from as many outings. The Men-in-Blue began their campaign in Chennai with a six-wicket win over Australia before dishing out clinical performances against Afghanistan and Pakistan in Delhi and Ahmedabad for their hat-trick of wins.

However, they will be wary of the Bangladesh challenge, especially from the slower bowlers, and can’t afford to be complacent at any cost.

The only liberty that India could perhaps take is by resting one of the gun bowlers — Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj — and bringing in Mohammed Shami for his first game of the tournament. The Pune track is traditionally a spin-friendly track, and in the scenario, the other likely change could be off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin coming in for Shardul Thakur.