Shakib-Al Hasan and controversy are synonymous with each other.
From leaving the squad midway during a series or a multi-team tournament for commercial purposes to serving an International Cricket Council (ICC) ban for failing to report a corrupt approach from a bookmaker in 2019, controversy has kept Shakib in the news just as much as his runs and wickets.
In the ongoing World Cup too, while the entire Bangladesh contingent reached Calcutta on Wednesday evening for Saturday’s clash against the Netherlands at the Eden, Shakib went back to Mirpur for a short stint with his personal mentor Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, having managed only 56 runs so far in the showpiece event.
According to Bangladesh team sources, Shakib went back after head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe had approved of it. But Shakib’s decision didn’t go down too well with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and through team director Khaled Mahmud (also the Board representative in the team), the skipper was asked to rejoin the squad on Thursday itself.
"He was supposed to arrive tomorrow (Friday) morning. Instead, he came this evening (Thursday) itself. That's about it," said Mahmud, without divulging much details, on the sidelines of Bangladesh's optional training session.
In what's going to be Bangladesh's second ODI appearance at the Eden on Saturday, the pitch is likely to be a good batting track with extra bounce for the quicks. Dew may not be a factor though the measure (anti-dew spray) has been kept ready.
