Bangladesh newly appointed ODI skipper Shakib al Hasan said on Saturday that they are not looking too far ahead as they prepare for the Asia Cup 2023, stating that taking this tournament as the preparation for the forthcoming ODI World Cup won’t be a wise idea.
Shakib, who replaced Tamim Iqbal as ODI leader after the latter stepped down from the position recently, faced the media for the first time along with head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and both of them insisted at this moment they are only thinking of reaching the Super Fours of Asia Cup.
“You cannot think of World Cup with the Asia Cup because they are two different tournaments. Yes if we can do well and develop as a good team in Asia Cup, in that case we have some good chance to do well in the World Cup and from that point of view Asia Cup is important. But it is not like if we do badly in Asia Cup will imply that there is no chance for us in the World Cup nor if we do great will suggest that our chances in World Cup will increase to substantially,” Shakib told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday.
“Now the whole plan is based on Asia Cup and the preparation and team is prepared accordingly. When we finish the Asia Cup at that point World Cup will come and we will think about it at that point of time. Now we are thinking only about Asia Cup and more precisely we are only thinking about Afghanistan, Sri Lanka game,” he said.
Hathurusingha echoed the same sentiment.
“Definitely, our aim is to qualify for the second round first. As you said, we are playing in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka. They’re a very good team at home. And then, we are playing Afghanistan in Pakistan and lately, they played here and they won the series. So, there are big challenges, but we are up for it,” said the Sri Lankan.
Bangladesh followed the training module set by Hathurusingha and he was impressed with the intensity his charges carried in the last practice game.
“Yes. The preparation, actually, I’m very, very happy [with]. We had a really good lead-up with the fitness and the medical at the start. And then in the middle individual skill development was there for about seven days. And then after that, the next seven days were more tactical and role-based training. And then the last five days were more for individual players, what they wanted to do. We ended with a practice game, which was the first time. I have done practice games with many teams and it’s very hard to keep the intensity from the players. But the last game was one of the rare ones that they actually competed till the last ball until I asked them to come off, and we finished at around 10:30. So, I’m very happy about that,” he said.
Shakib, who was busy playing the Global T20 tournament and the Lanka Premier League during the time of the preparation, had a meeting with his teammates on August 24 for the first time after getting the leadership role and he said he is happy with the way they prepared for the Asia Cup while added that he is not feeling that he have to make adjustment as the ODI skipper.
“Most of them played under me or I have played under them and played together. The one or two new cricketers who were included I think had good knowledge about me, and me along with the coaching staff have a good understanding about them. I don’t think there is something like need for adjustments because everyone knows what their duty is. Because we have a cricket culture or trying to develop one so everyone knows what to do for the dressing room,” he said.
However, both the captain and coach were disappointed with losing Ebadot Hossain due to injury as they felt he was an important part of the team.
“It is very sad that Ebadot is not with us because he was an important part of our team and taking that into consideration it is quite disappointing. Still I feel we have squad that can go a long way,” said Shakib.
“Ebadot is one of our impact bowlers, the fastest bowler out of the five fast bowlers we played in the last few series. So, it’s a big loss, and to replace him straight away it’s a hard task. Hopefully, he’ll recover soon,” added Hathurusingha who also claimed that Litton Kumar Das recent lack of form is not a concern for them.
Litton, who enjoyed great success with the bat across all three formats last year, hasn’t performed this year as he could make only 301 runs in 12 matches at an average of 30.10.
The 28-year-old hit three fifties in those 12 innings including a match-winning unbeaten 53 runs against Afghanistan in the last ODI in July that also gave some glimpses of him returning to form but he failed again at Global T20 and LPL.
“I don’t think so. I have no concerns about his form at the moment because he’s played in a few competitions in Canada and in Sri Lanka. Those are T20s. But he’s training really hard. If you look at those recent tournaments that he played, the pitches are not that great, not high scoring, especially in Canada and to a certain extent in Sri Lanka,” said Hathurusingha
“So, whatever the runs he scored were impact runs. Yes, we want him to play a different, like a big role during the Asia Cup and the World Cup. So, hope that he will show,” he said.