Bangladesh name Shakib Al Hasan’s replacement for Mirpur Test against West Indies

Ahead of their second Test against the West Indies, starting Thursday, February 11 in Mirpur, Bangladesh have called up left-hander Soumya Sarkar to replace Shakib Al Hasan, who has been ruled out due to an injury on his left thigh. Due to the same injury, Shakib missed a chunk of the opening Test at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.

Shakib sustained the injury on the second day’s play when he tried to stop the ball with his foot off his own bowling. In the first innings, he scored 68 runs after which the Tigers took a significant 171-run first-innings lead. Earlier, the Magura-born Shakib developed a groin injury during the third ODI against Jason Mohammed’s unit.

Going by a statement from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Shakib has left the team’s bio-secure bubble and is being looked after by the medical staff.

”Shakib will leave the team bio-security bubble this week and for the time being will be under the surveillance and treatment of the BCB medical in Dhaka as he continues to recover and consolidate his physical robustness,” the BCB said in a statement.

As far as Soumya is concerned, he has 818 runs from 15 Tests at an average of 29.21. He also has a top score of 149 against New Zealand in Hamilton back in February 2019.

Shakib Al Hasan requests BCB for paternity leave

In the meantime, Shakib has also requested the country’s cricket board to grant his paternity leave from the tour of New Zealand. Earlier in January, Shakib shared the news of his wife Umme Ahmed Shishir’s pregnancy.

“We have received a letter from him to grant leave during the tour of New Zealand as he wants to be with his wife (in the USA). We are yet to take a decision in this regard,” Akram Khan, chairman of BCB cricket operations, mentioned.

Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand is set to start on March 20 with the three ODIs to take place in Dunedin, Christchurch, and Wellington respectively. Earlier, the series was scheduled to get underway on March 13, but New Zealand Cricket (NZC) postponed the series due to COVID-19 complications.