Tigers pushed to the edge

Injured Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim winces in pain as he moves his left shoulder during the team's practice session in Mirpur yesterday, and remains uncertain for today's vital Asia Cup clash against Afghanistan at Fatullah. Abdur Razzak (R) might lead the side if Mushfiqur does not play. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

As far as unfortunate moments in cricket go, the current phase seems to be one of the worst that the Bangladesh team has ever gone through. The hosts have been hit by an avalanche of ill-fated events in the last few months -- affecting both strategy and morale -- which have ended up conjuring an extremely tricky scenario ahead of their important clash against Afghanistan today.
As if losing Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal was not bad enough, the Tigers are now in danger of playing Afghanistan without both skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. The latter has been ruled out of the Asia Cup with a side strain and has been replaced by Shafiul Islam. On the other hand, a decision on Mushfiqur -- who had hurt himself on the field in Wednesday's game --will be taken today morning after putting the batsman through a quick fitness test.
National team physio Vibhav Singh yesterday stated the need for 'more time' before being able to take a final call on the captain.
“Mushfiqur has got the full range of movement on his shoulder and he does not have pain, so from that aspect it's looking good. But his skills may be limited because there's some swelling and bruising that has come up. We need to give the body time to heal,” said Vibhav. “He will complete 48 hours before the match tomorrow and we will do a quick fitness test then,” he added.
Apart from the shoulder injury, Mushfiqur is already carrying a fracture on his finger because of which he is unable to keep. However, Mushfiqur may well overcome all these obstacles and play against Afghanistan today, partly because of the kind of character he possesses and also because of the match's importance.
However, with so much cricket coming ahead, playing Mushfiqur in this game could be a gamble and that is something the team management is aware of.
“This is the first time that I have seen so much cricket one (event) after the other here. There's a lot more that we need to think of, regarding what risks we need to take. We need to put in perspective what's important at that stage of time,” explained Vibhav.     
If Mushfiqur does not play today then either Abdur Razzak or Nasir Hossain is expected to lead the side. Worse still, it will be the first time since September 2005 that Bangladesh will play an ODI without any of their four stalwarts.
'Step up for your country'
With almost nothing going for the Tigers, coach Shane Jurgensen has asked his troops to stay calm and stick to the basics.
“I have asked the players to step up for their country. We have had one-day success in the last 18 months and that was because everyone stepped up, and I have asked nothing more than that tomorrow. All we need to do is stick to the basics,” said Jurgensen in the pre-match press conference at Mirpur yesterday.
“We don't seem to be having luck on our side but we need to keep battling. There were three games out there so far and we were the ones who had dew. I hope there won't be dew tomorrow night and that it will be a fair game. I don't want them to drop their intensity because the next game is the most important game,” he added.