Bangladesh captain Shakib al Hasan has suffered an injury to his left index finger while batting in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup India 2023 match against Sri Lanka in New Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium Monday.
An X-ray conducted after the game confirmed a fracture which has ruled him out of Bangladesh’s last match of the tournament against Australia in Pune Saturday.
National team physio Bayjedul Islam Khan said: “Shakib was struck on his left index finger early in his innings but continued to bat with supportive taping and painkillers. He underwent an emergency X-ray in Delhi after the game which confirmed the fracture on the left PIP joint. Recovery is estimated at three to four weeks. He will leave for Bangladesh today (Tuesday) to begin his rehab.”
Shakib, the world’s No 1 all-rounder, scored 82 off 65 balls to guide the side to a three-wicket victory over Sri Lanka.
He had earlier taken two wickets for 57 runs in a player-of-the-match performance.
Shakib is currently third among the Bangladesh players in both the highest run-scorer and wicket-taker list.
The 36-year old has scored 186 runs from seven innings at an average of 26.57 and strike rate of 82.3 to rank below Bangladesh's highest run-scorer Mahmudullah and second-placed Liton Das.
With the ball, the star all-rounder has taken nine wickets at an average of 36.55, economy rate of 5.26 and strike rate of 41.66, behind the Tigers’ joint highest wicket-takers Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Shoriful Islam (both 10 scalps).
The timeline of recovery has put Bangladesh Test skipper Shakib in doubt for the two-match series at home against New Zealand right after the World Cup.
The first Test starts in Sylhet on November 28 with the second beginning eight days later in Dhaka.