Shakib Al Hasan got a harsh welcome with fans booing him and chanting bhoa-bhoa-bhoa (fake) when he left the BCB academy premises on Thursday (October 26) following a net session with Nazmul Abedin, who has been working with him since his childhood days at BKSP – the country’s lone sports institute situated in Savar.
Following his poor form with the bat, which has impacted his team’s fortunes in the ongoing World Cup, the left-handed batter decided to leave Mumbai for two days of extensive training with his mentor.
Shakib, who had hit peak form with the bat during the 2019 World Cup, scoring 606 runs which included two tons and five half-centuries, has not reach the three-figure mark since that tournament. Since then, he has earned an ICC ban for failing to report corrupt approaches coupled with a drop in batting form in this format.
Since returning from the ban in 2021, Shakib has played 38 matches and scored 1117 runs at an average of 33.84, which includes eight fifties. In the ongoing tournament, he has registered scores of 14, 1, 40 and 1.
While against New Zealand he looked scratchy for most of his innings. what worked for him was the fact that he took a different approach altogether, playing second fiddle to Mushfiqur Rahim, who was playing his shots to keep the scoreboard ticking. The pair gave much-needed stability to the Bangladesh innings before the ace all-rounder departed after falling to the short ball ploy of Lockie Ferguson.
The last six deliveries that Shakib played against New Zealand included two sixes and a four as he decided to go all out and paid the price for it and it was the same case against Afghanistan, where he scored 14 runs before going for a full-blooded pull shot against Azmatullah Omarzai that went straight into the hand of Fazalhaq Farooqui at deep square.
Against England, he was clean bowled by Reece Topley failing to save his off-stump after going onto the front foot to a delivery that was going away while against South Africa he was lured by Lizzard Williams to play a drive only to nick to wicket-keeper Heinrich Klaassen.
Nazmul remained tight-lipped about his one-to-one sessions with Shakib but it was not difficult to understand what he was working on with his ward inside the BCB indoor premises, considering after the game against New Zealand he told Cricbuzz that opponents have worked out his batting and nowadays do not bowl to his strength.
“What I feel is that his range of shots was limited (against New Zealand),” said Nazmul. “He was not given the ball outside the off stumps, no cuts or drives if you have noticed. He was trying to play on the on-side because he was given on that line,” he said.
“Spinners throughout bowled within the stump and leg stump line, and he was stuck which ultimately forced him to play over the top and he was successful to a certain extent, but I think his main shots are on the off-side and they have got stuck by bowling on the leg side and forcing him to play on the leg side and I think that is the reason he was not scoring quickly enough or safely enough,” he said.
Nazmul added that he is not a typical sub-continental player who is strong on the leg side and insisted that if Shakib wants to excel with his batting in the 50-over format, he needs to improve his leg side game.
“Sub continent players are strong on the on-side while he is not and he needs to improve that and must find ways to score on the leg side which should not be difficult,” he added.
It is understood that Shakib will try to find a quick fix before returning to Kolkata for the team’s next game against Netherlands on October 27 with time running out for Bangladesh to stage a comeback in this tournament.
Habibul Bashar, former national skipper and current member of the selection panel, told Cricbuzz on Thursday that they are not worried about Shakib’s batting form as they are well aware he is just need one game to get back to his best.
“He [Shakib] will just need one game to back into form,” said Habibul. “I don’t think he is lacking confidence because he is not that kind of a guy. If you are not scoring runs naturally you will feel something is not going right but it has not reached such a point for him that he is lacking confidence,” he said.
“What I feel is that he knows best what needs to be done and probably that is the reason he went to Dhaka just to check it out where is making mistakes. To score a century you need to bat at number three but that is not the case for him on a consistent basis since he returned to international cricket (following the ban),” he added.