Revealed: Why Shakib Al Hasan returned back to home in middle of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan has returned back home.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has returned home in the middle of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. This happened after Bangladesh’s recent huge loss to South Africa in Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium.

Reports have suggested that Shakib has went to Dhaka to meet his personal mentor and coach, Nazmul Abedeen Faheem. Shakib has struggled with the bat in the ongoing World Cup, scoring just 56 runs in four innings. He has taken six wickets, too. All this, as Bangladesh have lost four out of their five games so far and are at the bottom of the points table.

Bangladesh's next two games are at Eden Gardens against Netherlands on October 29 and Pakistan on October 31. While the rest of the team arrived in Kolkata, skipper Shakib Al Hasan decided to return home to Dhaka for a short training session with his tutor ahead of the must-win games.

Shakib Al Hasan returns to Bangladesh

According to ESPNCricinfo, Shakib arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon, just a day after their huge 149-runs loss to South Africa in Mumbai. He immediately headed to Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium to train with Faheem. The first session lasted roughly three hours and was primarily was focused on throw-downs.

"He arrived today. We will be training for three days. Today, tomorrow, and the day after, he will return to Kolkata. We worked on his batting today. Shakib probably feels comfortable working this way. I am not sure what we are going to do next; I will take each session as he wants,” Faheem told ESPNCricinfo.

It is unusual to leave a World Cup campaign to practice with a personal coach in another country. South Africa's captain, Temba Bavuma, had previously left the team during World Cup warm-up games to return home and then rejoined the team, but this was due to "a personal situation," as head coach Rob Walter phrased it.