Shakib turns to India’s example for workload management
Bangladesh struggled against Sri Lanka, in the absence of regular captain Mashrafe Mortaza, who was ruled out of the tour with a hamstring injury, while Shakib himself had opted for rest, following his record-breaking performance at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.
Reflecting on the importance of maintaining fitness standards to optimise performance, Shakib said that every single member of the XI ought to be both physically and mentally prepared before he steps out to take the field.
"A player should play only when he is ready,” Shakib said. “If a player is not fit, it becomes tough for him, so fitness plays a vital role, and that could be both mental and physical fitness.
"In the modern age, there are so many matches, so it's tough to manage everything together. A player cannot play match after match, so the breaks are important. And these breaks create opportunity for newcomers. Pipeline will be strong. So we have to plan compactly.”
In understanding what an efficient way to come up with that sort of long-term planning would be, Shakib pointed to India’s example. India have identified a core group of players for each format and have reaped the rewards.
In Tests, where they are the top ranked team in the MRF Tyres ICC Rankings, India have a middle order core, comprising Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, that solely plays the five-day format. Their fast bowling group of Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma are split between the three formats, with Umesh and Ishant largely serving as red-ball specialists.
Likewise, on the spin front, the wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are handed white-ball duties, while Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin are among the most prolific long-format pairs in world cricket.
"Indian team can be a good example,” Shakib said. “Last year, they had the least numbers of players getting injured. Their rotation policy is the main reason behind this. And as an outcome, they got many players prepared and players got exposure.
"At the same time, when a new player came, they could start fresh and performed. Everyone got their rest, including Virat Kohli, in different formats. Very few players played in all the three formats in one series.”
Speaking further on the issue, Shakib felt that Tamim Iqbal could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a break at the moment. Long regarded to be one of their most dependable batsmen, Tamim had a dismal World Cup campaign, aggregating just 235 runs in eight innings and crossing fifty only once in that time.
His form sunk even deeper in Sri Lanka, where he was saddled with captaincy – a responsibility he has admitted in the past to not really preferring – and returned with 21 runs in three matches.
"A player can go through such bad phases in his career," Shakib said. "What I think is that he needs a good rest, to recover, to freshen up and make a strong comeback. I am sure he will do this."