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Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan’s form at the ODI World Cup 2023 in India was one of the talking points of the tournament. The skipper could not help Bangladesh qualify in the playoffs of the marquee event and ended the campaign with just two wins from nine games. However, the 36-year-old has now opened up on his struggles at the tournament.
In a recent interview with Cricbuzz, the Bangladesh skipper revealed that he was struggling with “blurred vision” in one eye throughout the tournament. “It is not in one or two games in the World Cup; rather, I was having it (eye problem) throughout the World Cup,” Shakib told.
On being asked if he was playing with one eye, the veteran all-rounder said, “It could have happened. I had huge discomfort facing the ball. The thing is that when I went to the doctor there was water in my cornea or retina and they had given me drops and told me that I have to lower my stress.”
He further added, “I am not sure whether that was the reason (for my eye problem). But when I again checked in America (after the World Cup) there was no stress and I told the doctor there is no World Cup so naturally there is no stress.”
However, the Bangladesh all-rounder did not cite captaincy as the reason for the stress as he said, “I’m not ready to put as an excuse for stress as I have done captaincy. But if I had got that earlier, it would have been easy because if I had time I could make everything ready and go there.”
The 36-year-old unlike the 2019 World Cup where he amassed 606 runs and took 11 wickets, struggled to get among the runs at the ODI World Cup 2023 in India. He scored only 186 runs in seven matches at an average of 26.57.