Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan had struggled to get going with the bat in the 2023 World Cup in India earlier this year. He could only manage 186 runs from seven outings at an average of 26.57 as the Bengal Tigers couldn’t make it past the league stage as well. The veteran all-rounder has now shared that he played the tournament with blurred vision in his left eye because of stress as well.
During a conversation with Cricbuzz, Shakib said: “It is not in one or two games in the World Cup, rather I was having it [the eye problem] throughout the World Cup. It could have happened [he was playing with one eye and premeditating where the ball would come]. I had huge discomfort facing the ball.”
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Shakib again shared: “The thing is that when I went to the doctor there was water in my cornea or retina and they had given me drops and told me that I have to lower my stress. I am not sure whether that was the reason [for my eye problem]. But when I again checked in America [after the World Cup] there was no stress and I told the doctor there is no World Cup so naturally there is no stress.”
However, Shakib Al Hasan and Co. faced a disappointing World Cup campaign. Bangladesh won just two of their nine group-stage games and finished in the eighth spot in the points table as well. He was appointed the captain of Bangladesh’s ODI team in August. He replaced veteran opener Tamim Iqbal, who quit his leadership role after being ruled out of the Asia Cup.
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“Because I have done captaincy [I am not ready to put that as an excuse for stress]. But if I had got that [captaincy] earlier it would have been easy because if I had time I could make everything ready and go there [for the World Cup],” Shakib Al Hasan concluded. “The problem I faced [as a captain] was that the team was not ready the way I was thinking or the philosophy through which I wanted to play. If you see not only during the World Cup but through 2023 our ODI performances were not good.”
