Everyone needs to be fit before World Cup, says Shakib

Bangladesh are about to take on Afghanistan in the first of the two-match T20I series from tomorrow. However, with the ICC ODI World Cup forthcoming, it was natural that the Bangladesh Test and T20I captain, Shakib Al Hasan, addressed issues regarding the marquee event in the pre-match presser today.

Shakib reckons that Bangladesh squad contains full of contributors but, at the same time, reinforced the notion that talent alone cannot yield desired outcomes in challenging assignments like the World Cup if collective fitness is downplayed.

"If we want to have a good result in the World Cup, not just the fast bowlers, I think all the 15-20 members in the squad need to be fit," Shakib told reporters in Sylhet on Thursday.  

"Obviously, it's a good sign that both our bowling departments are very strong and everyone is contributing. If everyone in the team -- batters, fast bowlers, spinners -- can contribute, it's easy to plan against any team.

"Teams now don't want to provide a spin track or even prepare a pitch that favours the pacers so I think this is a huge advantage for us." 

An increasingly tight schedule has meant the battle to maintain fitness is tougher than ever for cricketers all over the globe. Usually, the quicks are the major victims of injury and thus have to compensate in their fitness regimen. However, the recent rise of the Tigers pace-bowling unit has given the team management the luxury to negate the problem by fielding different combinations as per conditions, but Shakib thinks the rotation policy may not be enough due a lack of depth in fast-bowling options. 

"Obviously rotation policy is important but I won't say we have a lot of options in our pace-bowling unit.

"If two players get injured then you might feel we don't have enough bowlers. So it is important for the four-five pacers in our squad that they remain fit and play the [2023 ODI] World Cup properly," added the 36-year-old.