Shakib hopeful of being fit for Zimbabwe tour

Shakib Al Hasan takes a picture on his off day, Chittagong Kings v Duronto Rajshahi, BPL 2012-13, Mirpur, January 19, 2013

Shakib Al Hasan has his sights on making a return for the Zimbabwe series

© BCB

Shakib Al Hasan has expressed confidence of being fit and available before Bangladesh’s tour to Zimbabwe in April. He has been out of international cricket since November last year with a stress fracture on his shin.

“Hopefully I will be fit and available before the tour of Zimbabwe,” Shakib said in Dhaka. “I started running from yesterday (Saturday) under the guidance of [National Academy trainer] Stuart Karppinen and did not feel any discomfort.”

“But as far as my cricketing fitness is concerned, I am still getting there because I haven’t yet started batting or bowling. By next week, I will start with bat and ball to regain the fitness required to play at competitive level.”

Shakib underwent an operation on his right calf in Sydney last month as a result of which he missed Bangladesh’s tour to Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh have been setback by a spate of injuries. After Shakib was ruled out of Sri Lanka tour, Enamul Haque Jr, Naeem Islam, Shahriar Nafees, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain and Tamim Iqbal have all pulled out of the tour at some stage.

Shakib blamed the cricket schedule for the long list of injuries. “If you look at the calendar, you’ll notice that we have been playing a lot of cricket lately, both domestic and international.

“So these kinds of injuries can happen on a regular basis. But at the same time, this helps newer players to get opportunities,” he said.

Source: UNB Connect