Former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal questioned veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan’s inclusion into the playing XI in the first Test against India. He also informed that Shakib was facing trouble with his finger and shoulder and also added that the team only played with four bowlers as well. However, Shakib suffered a blow on his index finger while batting against Sri Lanka and he was ruled out of the rest of the ODI World Cup 2023 in November last year. The Bangladesh team were put on the back foot by the host with their lead exceeding 400-plus in Chennai.
“I was very surprised that Shakib didn’t come and bowl and then I got some info from one of our fellow commentators, Murali Karthik was having a word with him. Apparently, he is having some issues with his finger, which had a surgery, and he is having an issue with his shoulder. So I believe the team management should have known this before the Test matches because if he was not communicated properly, that means Bangladesh is playing with four bowlers, which is very unfortunate,” Tamim Iqbal told Jio Cinema.
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However, during the 1st innings, when India was batting, Shakib bowled only eight overs and gave away 50 runs at an economy rate of 6.2. The rest of the Bangladeshi bowlers bowled more than 18 overs as India managed to post 376 runs. During the 2nd innings, Shakib managed to score 32 runs and he was their top-run scorer as the team was bundled out for 149 as well. In the 3rd innings, Shakib couldn’t make any impact with the ball as well.
“Maybe a message from the dressing room that they want to get on things with it and especially the way Bangladesh has set field. It was almost feeling like that. They are just hoping that something will happen rather than creating something. The only way what I felt was Bangladesh picking up wicket is somebody just tried. Hit Six went straight up and somebody catches. Otherwise, I didn’t see anything else, No five fielders were out in the boundary. They were just for the bowling. For the sake of it, they were bowling. And I think the lack of a lot of things, I think especially the body language of the fielders were extremely down,” he concluded.
