Bangladesh got a little jolt yesterday ahead of today’s do-or-die clash against Pakistan as pace spearhead Mashrafe Bin Mortaza suffered an injury during practice and star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan skipped training as he was not feeling good.
National team physio Vibhav Singh however said that the setbacks suffered by the two key players was not serious and he was hopeful that both will be available for selection as there was enough time for them to recover.
The injury-prone Mashrafe suffered the injury during a fielding session at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium yesterday as a throw from Jahurul Islam hit him on the right shinbone and cut his skin. Ice was applied to reduce the swelling and leg pain.
“At the moment it does not look very serious. We rested him from training after the incident and the area where the ball hit him has been covered by the ice bag,” said Singh about Mashrafe’s injury.
“We have no plans of going for an MRI or any other investigation at this stage. We will see how he feels in the morning and only then decide. The main thing is we have to wait till morning to know whether he can play or not but I’m hopeful,” Singh added.
Regarding Shakib’s absence, he said: “He was not feeling very well so we decided to leave him in the hotel. We only had a light training session today, so Shakib was relieved. It is not that he has any stomach bug or other injury. He is quite fine and will play tomorrow.”
When contacted the player himself also said that there was no particular reason, but he was feeling under the weather.
“I skipped training as I’m not feeling good, that’s all,” said Shakib, who failed in the first match against New Zealand which Bangladesh lost by 59 runs.
The Bangladesh team management have been thinking of making one change to the team that played against New Zealand; young pacer Abul Hossain may come in place of left-arm spinner Elias Sunny. But if Mashrafe fails to recover in time they will certainly have to ring in more changes to team composition as well as strategy.
-With The Daily Star input
