IND v BAN: All eyes on injured Shakib Al Hasan as Bangladesh chase history in Chennai

Veteran Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan admits playing the ongoing Chennai Test with a swollen finger on his bowling hand and a suspected shoulder injury. On day three of the first Test, Shakib became Bangladesh’s oldest Test cricketer, bowling just seven overs and being uncharacteristically poor, with centurion Rishabh Pant hitting him for six fours and two sixes.

Shakib finished with his most expensive Test figures of 129 runs in 21 overs, where, for the fifth time in his Test career, he went wicketless despite bowling over 20 overs.

Visibly struggling to bowl in rhythm, former India cricketer-turned-commentator Murali Karthik – a slow left-armer, approached him and later got to know Shakib was bowling with a swollen yet rigid finger.

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“Having seen him and known him for such a long period of time, I did go up to him and ask the reason why he has not bowled enough,” Kartik said.

“And the thing which he said to me is something I completely resonate with. He's had finger surgery on his bowling finger, which is the point of his finger of his left hand. It is swollen, it is rigid, there's no movement, no suppleness to it. So, he feels he is not getting any feeling out of it.

“As a spinner, you need the feeling. Also, he is having issues with his shoulder, so it's a combination of both, and it's tough to bowl in Test cricket where you need that feel as a spinner,” Karthik said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Shakib suffered a left index finger injury during the Sri Lanka game in the 2023 ODI World Cup, missing the game against India earlier with a shoulder injury. The finger injury kept him away from the game for the remainder of 2023, while the left-handed all-rounder suffered an issue in his eyes that prolonged his absence.

The management must have informed – Tamim

Former Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal, part of the commentary box, said on air that if Shakib is not 100 per cent fit and playing with an injury, the management should have informed it by now instead of waiting for it to get aggravated.

"Murali Kartik said that Shakib is having trouble gripping the ball due to this finger injury. If that's the case, Bangladesh are playing with four frontline bowlers. The team management should inform whether they knew about this injury or not," Tamim said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh has lost four wickets in the chase of 515, with Captain Najmul Shanto and Shakib at the crease.

While Shanto completed his fifty, batting on an unbeaten 51, Shakib is playing on five off 14 balls.

Bangladesh needs another 357 runs to win this Test.

(Withinputs from agencies)