Shakib-Al Hasan and his men, top Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials and the Bangladeshi journalists here to cover their country’s World Cup games had a “wonderful evening” during a get-together at the Bangladesh deputy high commission office on Sunday evening.
The evening though could have been far better had the Bangladesh players not put in yet another spineless effort with the bat to lose to Associate team Netherlands at the Eden on Saturday.
Their World Cup campaign is as good as over, but BCB president Nazmul Hasan Papon held a meeting with the players and assured them of “full support” of the Board in this hour of crisis.
“Even if no one’s there with the players, we’re with them. We’re right behind them,” Papon told the Bangladeshi media after a meeting with the players at Taj Bengal, where the team is staying.
Bangladesh still have three more games to play. And at present, it’s all about “giving something back” to the people of their country, captain Shakib said.
“We have to pick ourselves up, first of all. At this moment, we are not in a situation to think about the opposition,” Shakib said, when asked about his thoughts ahead of their game against Pakistan at the Eden on Tuesday.
“We have to just play the way we know we can play. We have to motivate ourselves. There’s no other option.
“We have three more matches that we have to play. And if we can give something back to the people of Bangladesh, that will be great. That’s what we can think of at this moment.”
Shakib’s fallout with senior pro Tamim Iqbal, who was dropped from the Cup squad on fitness grounds (something the skipper himself had spoken about in a televised interview), also hampered Bangladesh’s build-up to the showpiece event. Shakib
then himself went on to admit that Tamim’s absence affected the team.
