STRATOSPHERIC SHAKIB

Shakib Al Hasan said before the match yesterday that one of the disappointments of Bangladesh's World Cup campaign so far has been their fielding efforts. He may have been hoping that the match to follow -- the Tigers' last World Cup game against Pakistan at Lord's -- would be an exception, but instead it crystallised his point. That Bangladesh will go home before the World Cup semifinals owes much to their fielding lapses and their inability to win the crunch moments on the field.

On a slowish wicket, a 157-run second-wicket partnership between Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam was the backbone of Pakistan's above-par score of 315 for nine. Like in matches against New Zealand, Australia and India, Bangladesh had chances to change the momentum, only to fail at each pivotal moment.

With the partnership still shy of a hundred, Pakistan were under a bit of pressure with just 24 runs coming in the seven overs between overs 18 and 25. Also, all the pressure was on Pakistan despite the burgeoning partnership because they were still in with a theoretical -- if outlandishly wishful -- chance of making the semifinals. However, when it came to cashing in on the building pressure, Mosaddek Hossain dropped Babar, then on 57, at point off Mustafizur Rahman in the 26th over. There was another chance in the next over, but Mushfiqur Rahim failed to get his gloves to an edge off the same batsman, with the unfortunate bowler this time being Mosaddek.

Against Australia, David Warner was dropped at point when he was just on 10, and went on to score 166. India's Rohit Sharma was dropped in the deep when on nine and punished Bangladesh for 95 more runs, taking the game away from the Tigers.

The team and their fans often ruefully recall their second World Cup match against New Zealand, saying that with just a bit of luck they could have won the match they lost by three wickets. But it was Mushfiqur Rahim's missed run-out chance of Kane Williamson that proved to be the turning point in that match.

Players often like to point out that missed catches are part of the game, but when it becomes a feature rather than a bug like it has for Bangladesh, it will be a major factor in the team's performance. Bangladesh's ground fielding was also woeful yesterday, as there were numerous errors and fielders diving over balls to allow boundaries became a common sight. It all contributed to Pakistan scoring much more than they should have, and more than Bangladesh would be able to. Mehedi Hasan Miraz's excellent figures of one for 30 from 10 overs showed just how difficult it was to bat on a wicket if the bowlers bowled well and the fielders backed them up.

Everyone had been hailing Bangladesh's performance in the World Cup, but although yesterday was a dead rubber, winning it would have placed them fifth in the points table. With their fielding record in this World Cup and yesterday's performance in particular, that would probably have been a position too high.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury informed yesterday that Shakib Al Hasan's eligibility for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL), scheduled to begin from March 23, rests on a clean bill of health from his next assessment.

The Tigers' Test and T20I skipper is currently undergoing a rehabilitation program for the injury he sustained during the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) final in February on his left hand's little finger.

"Shakib has come from an injury. I hope that it [Shakib's participation in the IPL] will get clear in the next assessment," said Nizamuddin.

Earlier, it was informed by  BCB cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan that the ace all-rounder has no chance of getting fit before at least March 20.

Nizamuddin also informed that, keeping in mind Bangladesh's World Cup preparations which are expected to begin from mid April, they will decide whether Shakib will be given an NOC for the entire duration of the IPL or just a part of it after discussing the matter with the team management.

One of the recurring themes of Bangladesh's World Cup campaign has been the disappointing performance of the one batsman most fans would have been looking at to set the biggest stage alight for the Tigers. Tamim Iqbal averaged 57.06 between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, but on the biggest stage, he managed 235 runs at an average of 29.37 from eight games. A player who takes great pride in performance and the legacy he will leave behind in Bangladesh cricket, the meagre returns frustrated Tamim throughout the event, even though it was his most successful World Cup in terms of runs scored. Yesterday, as the Tigers prepared to make their way back from the UK, Tamim spoke to The Daily Star's Sakeb Subhan about his disappointment and the need to move past it. The following are excerpts of the interview:

The Daily Star (TDS): Are you disappointed with your performance in the World Cup?

Tamim Iqbal (TI): Yes, very disappointed. In the sense that, after what happened in 2015, I have been preparing myself for 2019. In these four years I've had a lot of success. And then, even in Ireland I did really well. But I think that as soon as the World Cup started, I took a lot of pressure on myself. Just thinking that I don't go back to 2015 again. It is very easy for anyone who reads this to come and ask me why are you thinking like this, you have scored so many runs. But only I know what is going on inside. My nightmare was going back to 2015, what happened in 2015, how I suffered and my family suffered.

TDS: By that you mean the outside pressure after you dropped a catch against England and also some inconsistency with the bat?

TI: The outburst that happened was very new for me then. I couldn't handle it at that time. And then how the family suffered, and all of that. I knew very well that the World Cup is a tournament that makes even those who do not follow cricket start following; that's how big the event is. I think that is what killed me at the beginning. I took a lot of pressure on myself; I wanted to prove a point… not prove a point, I wanted to do really well.

And in these four years, the success I got, I never tried to prove to anyone. I just went there, batted and things happened. But here, I put so much pressure on myself to succeed that it hampered me. I was actually looking to get  a score in the first two games. That's very important for me. The 62 I scored [against Australia], if I could have scored that in the first two games, it could have been a different thing mentally. I think that is why I find it disappointing. The trolling, the criticism is part of my life. I need to accept it. I think that I have dealt with it much better than I did in 2015. What bothered me was myself. I lost to myself.

TDS: What bothered you more, that you couldn't score runs or the pressure you put on yourself?

TI: I took a lot of pressure to score runs. I had to score… I had to score. If you try too hard to do something, it doesn't happen. I really am not someone who has a bad tournament and will then come and give excuses, but actually I was very unlucky in this tournament. There were three to four dismissals where I couldn't do anything. The Cottrell runout, the three chop-ons. It had nothing to do with my technique. There were one or two dismissals which I regret… England and New Zealand. The first game [against South Africa] was a very good delivery, the last game [against Pakistan] was a good delivery. Surprisingly, though I didn't score runs, I actually batted really well. It wasn't as if I was being beaten or struggling. Whenever I batted, everybody thought – myself included – that this is the day probably. I went there and played a couple of nice shots and then it just happened. The good thing is I don't take the past innings with me when I am batting. I started panicking more because I was getting out after one mistake. I actually lost patience with myself. I wondered what the hell is happening. I talked to Neil and he said you cannot do anything. After the first two games I went to [batting coach] Neil [McKenzie] and said 'let's shoot my batting and see if there is anything technical'. Then he told me 'I wish I could tell you something', there was nothing. He said 'it's basically the same, you've done this'.

There are two positives from this. One was the processes that got me success, the way I batted and the processes I did before the game, I did exactly the same. In such situations, there will be people giving you all kind of advice: 'Go and attack', 'if this is not working you should bat like this or that'. That is the worst possible thing I could have done. Because after not scoring in two matches, if I went down the wicket to the first ball, or swung my bat around and then got out, then that would have the worst possible thing. The best thing I did was I never changed. I batted exactly the same way when I scored a lot runs and when I didn't score a lot runs – from game 1 to game 8 – I batted the same way.

TDS: When you say the same way, do you mean the changed Tamim who aims to bat till the 40th over?

TI: The aim is to bat deep. Sometimes, with the way I start… I will take time when I start the innings. When I am batting on 40 or 50, I make up the time I took. I have a lot of confidence in myself, the team, the coaching staff have a lot of confidence in me. It's not like I have done it for 10 games; I have done it for 50 games. Unfortunately I never got to that stage in this World Cup. People will say that there are a lot of ifs and buts, but it does not bother me because I know what I was trying to do. The other positive is that in my bad times, if I am averaging 30, I am pretty happy.

TDS: A lot of criticism has come because of your changed role, from swashbuckler to someone who bats all the way through.

TI: My role also has changed and, though it is a World Cup, I batted exactly the same way for the last five years. The way I batted actually helped the team to win. It doesn't bother me what people think. Changing myself because some people think a certain way is the worst possible thing I could do. What I do is not easy. My point is, if something has worked for me for a number of years, why should I change it? The people who understand cricket will understand what I went through and the people who don't understand cricket, will always criticise. And I am completely fine with it; I think I have come out of that space in 2015. There were high expectations, for me too, because I took myself to that level. It hurts a lot, but I need to come out of it.

TDS: You say that you have lost to yourself but also that the frustrations did not hamper you in the middle. Where did it affect you?

TI: It didn't affect me when I was batting. It affected me before the game – two days before the game. When playing a match, what you're doing in the middle is important but there are other important things. How mentally relaxed you are a day before, how positively you are thinking, all this adds to your batting. If you are not in a good mental space when you are going out to bat, it sometimes definitely hurts you and definitely affects your game. I took a lot of pressure to perform. It was not about social media or people writing about me, it was me who was the problem.

TDS: Did the dropped catch of Rohit Sharma add to the pressure?

TI: The catch drop didn't bother me either. I dropped the catch and felt bad for a couple of overs and I was up and running in two overs' time. I was going into the hot position to field. I was cheering when wickets were falling. I was probably the first one to go to Mustafizur when he took five wickets. Dropped catches are part of cricket. It was an important catch, I understand. A lot of criticism came after the dropped catch. Going forward, I will be taking a lot of good catches and I will also be dropping catches.

TDS: With three wins out of eight matches, how would you rate Bangladesh's performance?

TI: I thought it was a disappointing performance. We definitely had our moments and our chances. I could answer that question by saying that it was a very positive tournament, we pushed the best teams to the limit, but I think that we as a team have come out of that position. Just playing well is not our target. Playing well and winning games is our target. If you think in that way, we are number seven. If South Africa win we become number eight. So you cannot say it was a great campaign.

Bangladesh ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan announced on a Facebook post that he has paid off the remaining dues of the employees in his aquaculture farm in Shathkhira but also said that the incidents of unrest, where employees 'took to the streets and created chaos' were instigated by 'some people with hidden agendas.' Shakib also wrote that media played its part in blowing things out of proportion by failing to look into the situation with depth and integrity.

Around 200 workers from Shakib Al Hasan Agro Farm Limited, owned by the star all-rounder, had gathered outside the farm and closed the Munshiganj-Nildumur road, claiming they were owed four months' wages on Monday. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) dispersed the gathering in line with maintaining government protocols during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

The gathered employees had claimed that dues from January to April 18th remain unpaid. Apart from that, the farm had deduced Tk300 per month from their salaries as part of a savings scheme. The workers, who have been rendered unemployed by the coronavirus crisis and are going through a tough time, said they were yet to receive either their salary or savings.

According to Shakib's partner in the farm Sahagir Hossain Pavel, they had previously announced that the labours will receive their unpaid salaries by April 30 but despite that the movement was an unexpected one. Pavel informed that they sat for a meeting on April 21 and decided to pay the due salaries from today.

"I have spoken with Shakib yesterday after that incident and we sat on a meeting today with the general manager of the farm. After the meeting we have decided to start clearing the dues from tomorrow. As our export were stopped for the past three months due to the corona virus, we did not receive any payments and that is why we were unable to pay the wages of our labours. Me along with Emdadul Haque, who was also involved in the matter, would want to apologise to our workers for that. When Shakib heard the matter, he instructed to pay the due salaries. I would also like to clear that Shakib bhai was busy recently and for that he was not involved to the matter personally. It was really an unexpected incident that took place yesterday and we are shocked and embarrassed," Pavel told The Daily Star over phone.

Shakib today said that although his response regarding the matter was late, he had paid the due salaries from his own account. He said that most employees were laid off at the end of January and only the very few that were retained, were promised their due salaries by April 30. Shakib stated that he was 'shocked to see the employees fail to wait till the end of the month' as they had agreed to.

Here is Shakib's full Facebook post:

"I would like to apologise for the late response but I wanted to gather all relevant information so that I can relay the truth to you all. Although my name is directly associated with the Agro Farm, due to my busy professional schedule, the company, like my other companies, are usually run by my co-owners/working partners. I hardly get a chance to get involved in those businesses' daily affairs or even visit the offices or premises. As you all know, I have been away from Bangladesh for most of the year as we are expecting our second child and over this period of time I was not updated with the business affairs of my Agro Farm at all and only came to find out about the employee dispute through the media. My co-owners and working partners failed to inform me properly of what was going on over the last few months but they had promised the very few employees (who were retained ) with an agreed month's salary to be paid by April 30, 2020. All of the employees were laid off by the end of January. Despite agreeing to wait till April 30, those employees surprisingly took to the streets and created chaos probably being instigated by some people with hidden agendas and ill intentions.

However, as soon as I realised there was a serious issue, I resolved the situation by taking full responsibility to pay all the due salaries from my own personal funds and without any assistance from company funds or the co-owners. In any case, I believe this was an internal affair of a company which should have remained internal. I was very shocked to see the employees fail to wait till the end of the month as they had agreed or created so much unrest. Like many others, I have been trying to gather funds for other people like them who are distressed under the current crisis so I'm confused as to why people would think I would deprive a handful of employees (and many more) of ours who have been paid regularly for over 3 years.

Unfortunately, I realised that this story was blown out of proportion by the media who failed to look the same in depth and with integrity. It would have been better if they had tried to seek the truth rather than go for sensational headlines which was partly false and mostly misleading.

I truly believe that the media have a strong role to play by verifying the truth and build their stories based on factual information or else they may end up hurting people like me for no apparent reason. They could have easily raised the issue mentioning the overall scenario and every co-owners name rather than blaming me or mentioning me only. Neither me nor anyone else deserves false accusations of this nature. I earnestly hope that the media and journalists will take more care when reporting.

As a nation, I sincerely think we have more important work to do given the current crisis and need to be vigilant and strong against any kind of misleading information and fabrication of the truth. I think we need to focus our attention on more vital topics.

Everyone please stay safe and well."