Pace injuries may haunt Tigers

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is concerned that the injuries that the national team's pace department have suffered right before their tour of New Zealand might be problematic for the Tigers.

Mohammad Shahid and Shafiul Islam, two of Bangladesh's best performing bowlers in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), suffered from freak injuries in the league while fielding and have been ruled out of the New Zealand tour.

In addition, Mustafizur Rahman is still recovering from the surgery that he went through earlier this year. While he has recovered a great deal, it is still not certain if he will be fit enough to play the ODI series that begins from December 26.

“Injuries are always bad for the team. We often say that we have back-up players, but I don't see back-up players. It's difficult to replace a player like Shakib [Al Hasan] or Tamim [Iqbal].

“Shafiul was playing very well. So that was quite bad for us. We are at a point when we are creating back-up players. We will take some time to reach that point when we will have enough players for each position,” said Mashrafe.

“For instance, if we had Mustafizur with us, we probably could have won both the Tests [against England] and the one-dayers as well. We need our best players on the ground. And now we have to adjust,” added the skipper.

Aside from the injuries, the other aspect that the team management may be concerned about is that both Shakib Al Hasan and Soumya Sarkar have had below-par outings in the BPL. Shakib has not been at his usual best while Soumya's bad patch has been continuing for nearly a year and a half now.

Mashrafe however was not concerned about either player.

“Shakib is a big player in world cricket. And when it comes to players like him, one often expects a lot. And sometimes it can be difficult to maintain that expectation. He is captaining the biggest team in the BPL and that itself carries plenty of pressure.

“But he has always clicked at the right time for Bangladesh. He has given the national team his best. I have no doubts about Shakib. But yes, the ball may not turn as much in New Zealand, so he may need to work on overcoming that challenge,” said Mashrafe.

“As for Soumya, I believe that he is just one big innings from getting over his bad patch,” he added.