Anyone should be ready to bat in any position, Shakib on Tamim issue

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh national team opener Tamim Iqbal's Facebook video after being left out of the World Cup squad has raised many questions as Tiger captain Shakib Al Hasan spoke about these issues to a private TV channel T-Sports before leaving for World Cup.

The Tiger captain said, "Anyone should be ready to bat in any position as team’s requirement."

Earlier, in Tamim’s video the former captain said “A person from top level of board called me one-two days later. He is very involved with our cricket. He told me I won’t be selected for the Afghanistan match and they would send me to bat at lower-order if I play against Afghanistan. I was happy with a good innings, then suddenly these words which I couldn’t take lightly because I batted at same position for 17 years and never batted at No 3 or 4. I had no experience of this. I didn’t like the idea,”

“I felt I was being given obstacles intentionally, in a lot of things. I said to them, listen, you guys do one thing, if you people think along these lines then don’t send me to the World Cup. I don’t want to be involved in this dirty business,” he added.

However, Shakib said the team should be the first priority not any individual glory and he called it bit a childish not to cope up with team’s decisions.

“Is there anything wrong with such a proposal or such a proposal cannot be made at all. Team first or individuality first? Rohit Sharma played as a player from opening to number seven. He has scored 10 thousand runs. If he plays three-four or enters batting in the lower order, is it too much of a problem?” Shakib said

“Actually, I feel like it is bit childish... ‘I will play my bat... no one else can.’ Anyone should be willing to play anywhere for the team. Team first. It makes no difference whether you do one hundred or two hundred."

Tamim has been suffering from a back injury for quite some time. After the sudden retirement incident during the Afghanistan series, Tamim withdrew from that decision due to the intervention of the Prime Minister.

After that, he also took an injection on the advice of a doctor in England. He also played two match in the New Zealand series but rested after two matches due to discomfort.

With Mahmudullah Riyad’s example, Shakib said, “Riyad Bhai's dedication and his contribution to the team, everyone saw that desire to play for the team. It is not my responsibility to select the whole team. In that case, I could have announced and given the team one day after the Asia Cup. It has to go through many processes. There are many things to think about. The team has to be built by thinking about many things.”

Dismissing the rumors of Tamim not playing against Afghanistan, Shakib said, “There was no discussion about it (Tamim not playing against Afghanistan). I don't know where such a question comes from. If someone said that, I'm sure someone who is in charge of this would have discussed it, which would be better for both parties.”

“I don't think there's anything wrong with saying something like that. I'm sure no one will say this for anyone's bad. If someone said anything like this he thought about the team, for better combinations, a lot of things like that are based on such match. What would happen if you made such a combination, I don't think there is anything wrong with such discussion” Shakib further added.