With the upcoming series against Windies at home, Bangladesh will return to international cricket after about ten months. Players’ individual training session has already started before the formal preparations from January 10.
As usual Mushfiqur Rahim has started practicing before everyone. Soon after, ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, Test captain Mominul Haque and T20 captain Mahmudullah Riyad and a few others rushed to the field to prepare themselves.
Premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is the latest addition in this regard. On Thursday morning, the world's best all-rounder started individual training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
After being banned for a year by the ICC, he played in the recently concluded Bangabandhu T20 Cup. About two months ago, he had a two-week intensive training at BKSP under two of his mentors, Nazmul Abedin Fahim and Mohammad Salauddin.
However, in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup Shakib was not at his best. In the 9 matches he played for Gemcon Khulna, Shakib scored 110 runs and scalped 6 wickets. He struggled to get his rhythm back as he was not on the field for a year.
Meanwhile, after receiving the news of his father-in-law's illness, he returned to the United States without playing the final of Bangabandhu T20 Cup. But while he was on the plane, Shakib's father-in-law died. Then Shakib returned to the country on Sunday morning.
And now, two days before the official preparations on January 10, Shakib has returned to practice within 96 hours of his return. It remains to be seen whether he will get his old self back with the series against Caribbeans.
According to history, Shakib, who started his career as the acting captain a decade ago, played a leading role in winning the first Test series outside the country by showing an outstanding performance with both the bat and ball against the Caribbean. This time after 12 years, the broken and starless West Indies is on Bangladesh’s soil. Let's see if Shakib can replicate the same feat or not.
