Shakib trains with eye on ‘making up the hours’

Bangladesh ace all-rounder and Rangpur Riders' player Shakib Al Hasan batted at the nets this afternoon for a long period, hoping to make up the hours in training session and regain some sharpness ahead of the match against Durdanto Dhaka this evening.

Shakib batted against throwdowns, wrist spinner Rishad Hossain and Rangpur's spin bowling coach Mohammad Rafique in the nets at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Academy Ground.

"He [Shakib] is making up the hours in training and trying to get into rhythm,' the franchise's batting coach Shahriar Nafees said today.

Shakib batted at number eight against Khulna Tigers yesterday and made two, the same amount of runs he had scored in his first game against Fortune Barishal.

"In this situation, you can bowl but batting takes some preparation. Since he couldn't prepare, he batted lower down the order," Rangpur head coach Sohel Islam had said during an interview yesterday.

The eye problem has been troubling him since last year's ICC World Cup and forced him to make certain adjustments.

Shakib's head position was more tilted than usual yesterday, which Nafees feels was the all-rounder's bodily reaction to make up for the problem with his eye sight.

"When there is a problem or issue with anything in your body, the body automatically adjusts to it and tries to make up for a lacking. Maybe that's what it was," he said.

In the nets, Shakib had some trouble with wide deliveries and mostly played fuller-length balls.

Rangpur have lost two out of their three matches and will be hoping that Shakib can regain his rhythm and play a bigger part with the bat.