Shakib, Shadman join up as Tigers training begins

DHAKA —Ace allrounder Shakib Al Hasan and opening batsman Shadman Islam joined the squad as Bangladesh completed their first practice session today in Harare for their upcoming bilateral series against Zimbabwe.

Shakib joined the side straight from the USA where he was holidaying with his family following some hectic cricket schedule in and off the country. He skipped the super league phase of the Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier League (DPL) in a bid to keep himself refreshed ahead of the Zimbabwe series.

Bangladesh will start their Zimbabwe mission with a two-day warm up game, which is expected to serve them adequate preparation for the one-off Test match, scheduled to be held from July 7-11.

The Tigers had a lack of match preparation for the longer version cricket as they were busy with playing the DPL which was held in T20 format.

Test skipper Mominul Haque also admitted that the preparation for the solitary Test was not ideal but he is still hopeful to make an instant impact.

Moreover Bangladesh will have to sweat on the fitness of two senior players—Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim, both of whom sustained injury during the DPL. Tamim experienced a knee injury which ruled him out of the DPL super league while Mushfiqur had a hairline fracture on his thumb.

However Bangladesh team management expected that the duo would be fit ahead of the first Test. They might be rested for the warm-up game, which will be held from July 3-4.

Bangladesh in fact were always vulnerable in the longer format. Since 2014, Bangladesh played six Tests against Zimbabwe and lost just one, which could give anyone the impression that the Tigers have the upper hand over Zimbabwe in this format. But the true fact is that all of the matches Bangladesh played against Zimbabwe in this period were in their own backyard.

 But when on Zimbabwe's soil, Bangladesh won just one and drew one in seven Test matches. The only victory came in Bangladesh’s last tour in Zimbabwe in 2013.

In that last tour, Bangladesh drew the two-match Test and T20 series by 1-1 respectively but lost the three-match ODI series by 2-1.

However Bangladesh’s three ODIs are scheduled on July 16, 18 and 20 and then they will take on the hosts for a three-match T20 International series, scheduled to be held on July 23, 25 and 27.BSS