T20 World Cup build-up not perfect, says Shakib

T20 World Cup build-up not perfect says Shakib

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan said on Saturday (May 4) that their preparations for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup are not "ideal" as they are not preparing against the top teams ahead of the showpiece event.

Bangladesh is gearing up for the world event with the ongoing five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe and is also scheduled to take on the USA in a three-match series after the conclusion of the home series. In the previous T20 World Cup 2022, Bangladesh played a tri-nation series with New Zealand and Pakistan. Although they could not win the series, they certainly put up a good fight.

Bangladesh then registered their first win in the main stage of the tournament since beating the West Indies in their opening game in 2007 after beating the Netherlands by nine runs in their campaign opening series. Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by three runs for their second win in the main stage and were on their way to the semi-finals, where they were eventually beaten by Pakistan.

"It would be wrong to think about the World Cup after our performances against Zimbabwe and the USA. The World Cup will be played at a different venue and the more we can handle the pressure, the more likely we are to do well, Shakib said. reporters. Saturday in Dhaka.

"We did pretty well in the last World Cup and although we didn't do very well, nobody would say we did badly. If that's our benchmark, we have a chance to overcome it in this World Cup and if we want to do it in our first we have to win three games in the round," he said.

"A big reason to play against the USA is to adapt to their conditions and know the place because there are not too many players who have played in the USA. Very few have the experience of being there in Florida ( 2018) and we will get it because I am used to the conditions of playing this series, but at the same time I would say it is not perfect (in terms of preparation),” he said.

When the T20 World Cup was held in Australia in 2022. At that time we went ahead after playing matches against New Zealand and Pakistan. So we prepared very well for the World Cup. That's why we went to the World Cup. We prepared very well for the World Cup. But it's not ideal for us. The best performance we've had so far is this," he added.

Shakib also pointed fingers at the BCB decision-makers as he felt it would have been better if they had played the Premier League phase of the ongoing Dhaka Premier League, the country's traditional List A tournament, in a shorter format instead of it in the usual way.

Bangladesh are going through a heat wave and he felt playing 50 overs was inhumane. It would have been better for us if the Premier League (DPL) was played in the T20 format. It is inhuman to be in the ground all day in this heat," he remarked. "It could have been handled more responsibly. We have the T20 World Championship ahead of us and in that case, it would have been helpful for the national team. Somehow it didn't happen," he added.