BCB president Nazmul Hasan has put the ball in Shakib Al Hasan’s court to decide the best time for surgery on the cricketer’s injured finger. Nazmul informed the media on Tuesday that he had a discussion with Bangladesh’s Test and T20I captain Shakib, and has asked him to make the necessary decisions after taking advice from his physio and doctor.
Confusion over Shakib’s timing with the surgery of his injured little-finger on his left-hand emerged last week after the all-rounder opined to get it done without further delay. As a result, that would make him unavailable for the ACC Asia Cup 2018 next month. However on the same day, BCB president Nazmul had a different opinion to Shakib’s and said the cricketer should think of a surgery following the Asia Cup given the importance of Shakib in the team, at a press meet.
But following a discussion with Shakib and the concerned individuals Nazmul has changed his opinion and also said that he was unaware of the urgency for the surgery.
“There is no confusion over it. It is not that the board is looking for something different to Shakib. We did not have proper information on the level of the injury he was carrying. He or none of those concerned had informed us about it and we thought everything was fine as Shakib played in the tour of the West Indies and also the Nidahas Trophy earlier,” said Nazmul to the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday.
“It was only after the final game of the Windies tour that were informed of the trouble he was dealing with due to the injury. We will never want a player to carry an injury,” the BCB chief added.
Nazmul clarifying his earlier statement said, he only wanted Shakib to think of playing the Asia Cup only if it was possible.
“Now the entire thing depends on Shakib, the physio and the doctor. I spoke to him before he left for Hajj and told him that he should undergo the surgery right-away if he is not comfortable. I also told him the decision totally depends on him. He can play the Asia Cup if he wants,” said Nazmul.
Shakib suffered the injury on his finger during the final of the Tri-Nations Series against Sri Lanka at Dhaka in January this year and was unable to play the subsequent Test and T20 series against the side. The left-arm all-rounder made a comeback through the last league game of the Nidahas Trophy T20I series in Colombo against hosts Sri Lanka. The Tigers, under the leadership Shakib, defeated Sri Lanka by two wickets in a nail-biter and set themselves a final with India.