Shakib, Mushfiq return to Dhaka

Mushfiqur Rahim, along with Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, has returned to Dhaka.

Mushfiq returned home yesterday after playing the match against Sri Lanka. He was planned to return to Dhaka due to family reasons.

Bangladesh will play its next match against India in the Asia Cup on 15 September. Bangladesh-India match in the super four will take place at Premadasa Stadium on 15 September.

Both Mushfiq and Shakib are supposed to join the squad in Sri Lanka on 13 September.

It was stated earlier that Mushfiq’s wife is about to give birth to their second child very soon. The batter expressed his desire to be with his wife during this time.

In a new development, Shakib arrived in Dhaka on Sunday morning in a flight from Colombo.

However, his arrival in Dhaka is not clear. His family is also in Dhaka. Maybe he wants to spend the three-day leave with his family.  

Sources said as per the pre-plan, he was supposed to go to Dubai from Colombo. He abandoned the plan after the team played badly, and returned to Dhaka.  

However, the team has nothing to do for three days from today in Colombo. Coach Chandika Hathurusingha declared a three-day break. There will be no team practice in the field for these three days. Cricketers will go to the gym, swim o work out as they want at the hotel. Those with minor injuries, will undergo treatment.

Chandika Hathurusingha, however, has a plan to talk to a number of cricketers individually during this break. He will assess the problems of who are not playing well and try to come up with solutions.

Hathurusingha is frustrated over the overall performance of the team against Sri Lanka yesterday. Bangladesh are not performing well in batting, bowling or fielding. Pacers did well in the beginning, but later lost that momentum. After the match, the coach made his disappointment clear. He said such performance was not acceptable at this stage of cricket.

Earlier, Bangladesh did not do well in the batting against Sri Lanka in the group stage in Kandy and against Pakistan in Super Four in Lahore. In both the matches, they were all-out  below 200 runs.  

Referring to yesterday's march against Sri Lanka, Hathurusingha said the cricketers are no longer juniors that they need to be taught from scratch. They must have determination to do well, but that is not there, he regretted.