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6 years ago

Tigers take on Aussies today

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Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza accepts that Shakib Al Hasan is key to Bangladesh’s success but has no qualms about the abilities of his ace allrounder despite his recent poor run.

 

Bangladesh will take on Australia in their second Group A game of the Champions Trophy at The Oval on Monday. They lost to hosts England by 8 wickets in the opener despite posting 305 riding on Tamim Iqbal’s century.

 

The game against the Aussies is set for a 6:30pm BdST start.

 

If the Tigers are to pull off something memorable on Monday, Shakib will need to shine on English soil.

 

The 30-year-old southpaw, who is usually the first to show up in the team’s warm-up with football, was missing from the team’s practice on Sunday morning at The Oval. It was later revealed that he was asked to rest by the coach.

 

Mashrafe then faced reporters on Shakib being out of sorts.

 

“Big cricketers doing well on big stages is a matter of luck. Shakib has always been up to the task. He tries his best. He opened the bowling in the last match. Though he gave his best, it was not good enough,” Mashrafe said.

 

Shakib’s elevated stature among the Tigers is undeniable. But his limited-overs performance has left much to be desired of late, especially with the ball.

 

He had gone through rough patches before, but those were not so barren. In 8 ODIs this year, he has taken only 4 wickets at an average of 81.

 

The batting numbers may not be as bad, but not really Shakib-like either. He has struck two fifties in six innings but scored 175 runs at 29.16.

 

Shakib’s performance with the bat or the ball was quite toothless against England. In with the opportunity to build on a 166-run second wicket stand, he managed just 10 before conceding 62 from 8 overs with the ball without any wickets to show for.

 

"The wicket is a big factor. We often see what he’s trying to do doesn’t happen. If he does poorly, the tournament may be tough for us. But we have no doubts about whether he will return [to his best] or if he is a top player or not.”

 

“If he can’t play to the best of his abilities, the others in the team must contribute more. These things are common within a team. It’s difficult to expect your top cricketer to always perform at the same level.”

 

World issue

 

With the elite tournament being held in England and Wales, three attackers seized the spotlight on Saturday night when they drove a hired van into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed others nearby, killing seven people and injuring 48.

 

British Prime Minister Theresa May called for a beefed-up counter-terrorism strategy after that.

 

Bangladesh team were at their hotel during the incident, watching media reports and updates from there. Mashrafe paid respect for the victims but shrugged off any notion of anxiety due to the incident.

 

He, however, thinks this instance of terrorism may be a lesson for many.

 

“Security is ICC’s matter to think about, not our’s [players’]. There is nothing to think about here. We stay at the hotel most of the time. The hotel security is quite good,” he said.

 

“These things are happening all over the world. The good thing for cricket here is, we are still playing amidst all this. Usually in situations like this back home, we don’t play.”

 

Mashrafe then said, “Now they will understand.”

 

Pointing at those who refused to visit Bangladesh over security issues over the last year, he implied that they would realise that the act of terrorism is not confined in any particular area, rather it runs amok across the world at present.

 

After the attack on an upscale eatery in Gulshan July last year,  Australia cancelled their Bangladesh tour.

 

Scores of analysts then marked Bangladesh as an unstable territory with growing threats of extremist attacks, thus unsafe.

 

It also gave rise to issues over England’s trip towards the end of last year. Although the Lions did visit the Tigers' den, their limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales pulled out of series citing personal reasons.

 

The series was held without any trouble. Australia are reassessing the safety issues of touring Bangladesh, though plans are yet to be finalised.

 

Mashrafe feels Morgan and Co will now realise terrorism is a global reality

 

- bdnews24.com

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