Bangladesh likely to suffer from the lack of dependable replacements for senior players
An official confirmation is yet to arrive, but it is pretty sure that any further participation of Tamim Iqbal in the ongoing Asia Cup is improbable. He sustained a nasty blow on his left wrist by a bouncer of Suranga Lakmal on the opening day of the tournament. The initial scan suggested that Tamim suffered a fracture on his wrist and that will take at least six weeks to heal. Bangladesh team management already in a tough challenge to find a replacement of the premium opener.
Not only Tamim, but Bangladesh might also suffer to find the dependable replacements for other senior guys like Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan. Both of them are playing the Asia Cup nursing injuries.
Shakib is suffering from a finger-injury since the tri-series what had taken place in the home earlier this year while Mushfiq's injury is on his rib. Shakib failed to score anything on the board against Sri Lanka as he got dismissed on the very first delivery of Lasith Malinga that he played. So, his capability to bat with an injured finger is still to be seen.
On the other hand, Mushfiq smashed his best ODI innings of 144 runs on the same match, but he seemed to feel discomfort on the field due to the pain on the rib. Bangladesh team management said that there is no uncertainty over Mushfiq's participation on the next game of Bangladesh against Afghanistan. But, they did not deny that Mushfiq is suffering from pain in his rib, and that could make him unavailable to play in the Super Four.
It has not been finalized who will replace Tamim Iqbal for the rest of the Asia Cup. In the meantime, Bangladesh team management has to think about the fitness of Mushifiqur and Shakib Al Hasan.
Explaining the current situation, senior coach of Bangladesh Cricket Board, Nazmul Abedin Fahim thinks Bangladesh might face more obstacles if injuries of more senior guys get worst. Namul was the coach of the players like Shakib, Mushfiqur and Tamim during their early cricketing days.
"To be honest, we have no back-ups for the players like Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan. We could not find replacements for them, and it is not a task to complete overnight. It is not impossible to replace one of them, but when things go further, it becomes tough. Tamim is already ruled out from the tournament, and we don't want anything like this to happen for others." He says on Monday at Mirpur while talking to media.
"It is tough to play the tournaments like Asia Cup without being 100 per cent fit. There was a time when we used to participate in Asia Cup-like tournament only for gathering some experience. But, things are not like that now. So, we should think about our senior guys. We should play them with great plans." Nazmul further added.