No rift with Shakib: Riyad
Senior Bangladesh batsman Mahmudullah Riyad posted a video on his Facebook page, refuting the notion that there was a rift between himself and Bangladesh Test and ODI skipper Shakib Al Hasan.
Rumours of tension between the two senior cricketers started circulating when news broke, while the Bangladesh team were playing a three-ODI series in Sri Lanka in late July, that ODI vice-captain Shakib had suggested that Mahmdullah be dropped from the team's fourth World Cup game against Sri Lanka on June 11. Mahmudullah had batted slowly in the team's third World Cup match against England when the Tigers were chasing 387 to win. It was reported that news of Shakib's suggestion had gotten round to Mahmudullah, and it caused a rift between the two players.
Mahmudullah, however, said in a Facebook post that there were no problems between Shakib and himself.
In a video message with the caption reading 'For your clarification, I want to let everyone know that the rumours of a rift between me and Shakib in the dressing room are not true', Mahmudullah stressed that all was well in the Tigers' dressing room.
"A while ago I saw a headline in an online site that the incident with Shakib in the dressing room was presented differently," Mahmudullah said in the video. "Actually, there is no clash whatsoever between me and Shakib. We have been very good teammates as long as we have been playing together. We still are and inshAllah we will be the same in the future. I think it is a lie that I have had any issue with Shakib. I thought that I should clarify this, which is the reason for this video. We have some very important matches coming up... please pray for us so that we can perform even better for Bangladesh."
Mahmudullah had spoken to the media after some time earlier the same day, and was asked for clarification about the supposed issues with Shakib. He had similarly refuted the notion of a rift, saying that the issue was misrepresented in the media.
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