Bangladesh cricket team’s preparations could be dealt a huge blow ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup as skipper Shakib Al Hasan got injured on Thursday, September 28.

Shakib, who will lead the side in his probable last World Cup for the national side suffered a minor injury while playing football and is reported to be out for the warm-up matches and the World Cup opener against Afghanistan. As a result of the injury, Shakib did not take the field against Sri Lanka in the first warm-up match.

Bangladesh dealt blow

It is reported that Shakib suffered a foot injury while playing football in team training that saw him get ruled out of the first warm-up match. The reported injury came a day before the Sri Lanka clash while there are eight days to go for their first World Cup match. While there is no official word from the Bangladesh Cricket Board, it is expected that Shakib will miss out on the England clash in the warm-up and could also spend time on the bench in the first match of the World Cup in Dharamshala.

The 36-year-old has been a great servant to Bangladesh cricket having represented the side since making his debut in 2006. So far, he has played 240 ODI matches while also playing 117 T20Is and 66 Test matches. As an all-rounder for the national side, he has amassed nearly 14000 international runs and scalped 681 wickets. He remains one of the finest cricketers to have played for Bangladesh.

He has been in the news lately for a spat with national team colleague Tamim Iqbal, who was dropped from the World Cup squad. The team management made an interesting choice ahead of the marquee tournament as they dropped former skipper Tamim Iqbal, despite him stating that he is fit to go.

Bangladesh will open their ODI World Cup campaign on Saturday, October 7 against Afghanistan in Dharamsala. However, their preparations got underway on Friday, September 29 against Sri Lanka while they will also face England on Monday, October 2 in the World Cup warm-up games.

Source: WION

BDST: 1542 HRS, SEP 30, 2023
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