The official preparation ahead of the home series against South Africa is scheduled to get underway tomorrow with the cricketers taking part in a Twenty20 game at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Majority of the national players headed for their home-town to spend the five-day break following the India series with their families, but the ones in Dhaka appeared at Mirpur yesterday and utilised the time for their personal practice.
Bangladesh’s ODI and T20 captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza, pacer Rubel Hossain and leg-spinner Jubair Hossain were among the few who were witnessed sweating it out at the gymnasium while Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim spent 45 minutes at the nets practising batting drills off the bowling machine.
Mushfiq is labelled as a very hard-working cricketer and it has often been the case that he arrives as the first and leaves last during any practice session. His time spent behind batting drills is understandably a result of the bad patch he has experienced during the last series.
The three-match ODI series against India, which Bangladesh won 2-1, was the first time in eight series that Mushfiq was unable to register a half-century. A 34–ball 31 in the second ODI was the highest score for the middle-order batsman who is ranked 21 in the world, highest among the Bangladeshis.
His consistency with the willow at No 4 is one of the major reasons behind Bangladesh’s batting strength while he also pulled the side out from sure trouble on numerous occasions. Mushfiq’s closed ones informed that the wicketkeeper-batsman gets frustrated easily and that is what is eating him up at the moment. He hasn’t scored according to his own high standards in the India series – at least he was not satisfied personally, if not the national management.
The first Bangladeshi to score a 200 in Tests, Mushfiq’s form in the longer version also took a dive and his performances in the last few Tests have not been satisfactory.
It is believed that the finger injury which he has been carrying since the home series against Pakistan in April is the chief reason behind the distractions. Moreover, giving up his duty behind the stumps to Liton Kumar Das against India also did not help him focus.
The good news is that the 27-year old Mushfiq is expected to be fully fit to put on his wicket-keeping gloves against South Africa which is likely to cut some tension and help him focus on his performance.
