Shakib suggests break for Tamim

Opener Tamim Iqbal should take a break from his duties with the national side as a way to try and regain his form, says Bangladesh’s Test and T20 captain Shakib Al Hasan.

Tamim, otherwise Bangladesh’s leading run-getter across all three formats of the game, has been going through an unusually long patch of bad form, having struck just one score of 50-plus in his past 11 ODI innings.

His total return over this period is a paltry 256 runs at an average of just over 23.

“I think any player can go through a bad time. It will be good for Tamim to get a break for a while to recover. I believe it will help him to come back strongly,” Shakib told the media on Thursday.

He was participating in a programme on raising awareness to prevent dengue at Banani Bidya Niketon in the capital.

It is believed that Tamim’s failure to fire was one of the biggest reasons behind Bangladesh’s inability to meet expectations in the World Cup. Having aimed to reach the semi-finals, the team eventually finished eighth below their ICC ranking.

Shakib said it was disappointing to lose the series against Sri Lanka. The number one all-rounder of the world feels Bangladesh should have come up with a better mindset to bring a good result.

“There is nothing to hide. It was really disappointing to lose the series in Sri Lanka. We had a thought that if we could play the World Cup game against Sri Lanka, we would have obtained two more points. But the recent series proved we could have lost the game as well. If we had won at least one match, that could have helped boost our confidence. But unfortunately, that did not happen,” Shakib said.

According to the Test captain, this is the prime time for BCB to start thinking about the next 3-4 years.

“Now we have to think about the future. I hope BCB already has started their work. They appointed two specialist coaches, and the head coach will be appointed soon as well. If we can ensure a good set-up we will progress again,” Shakib added.

Shakib will be travelling to Saudi Arabia on 2 August to perform the hajj. After returning from the pilgrimage, he will start preparing for the series against Afghanistan scheduled for early October.

Source: unb/Prothom Alo