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Shakib Al Hasan, the former Bangladesh captain, was spotted biting on a black strap, which was wrapped around his neck, while batting during the first Test against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. BCB physician Dr Debashish Chowdhury and Mohammad Salahuddin, the mentor of Shakib Al Hasan, revealed that he used the strap as a mechanism to hold his head position while facing a bowler in his stance at the crease after trying a neck brace in the past.
As per the reports in the media, Shakib Al Hasan has been suffering with a vision problem, Central Serous Chorioretinopathy (CSC), for which he consulted an ophthalmologist in London. Following that, he was also biting his jersey while playing for Bangla Tigers in the Global T20 Canada, quite possibly in his attempt to keep himself stable in the batting stance, to clearly see the ball delivered by a bowler and react to it accordingly.
He has come up with this strap. It is completely his idea: BCB physician on Shakib Al Hasan
Dr Debashish Chowdhury, the physician of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), spoke about the usage of the black strap from Shakib Al Hasan, and why he came up with it. He was quoted as saying, as per OneCricket, “He (Shakib Al Hasan) has come up with this strap. It is completely his idea. It has not come from us. He is working on a way to hold his head position while batting. He was trying to manage this with a neck brace previously, so this strap thing is also in a trial-and-error phase. He has tried it in the nets. He has done a lot of shadows with it too.”
Furthermore, BCB physician alluded to how only Shakib Al Hasan can tell whether his current experiment with biting on a black strap while batting is working for him. He said, “It is personal thing from him. He will understand if it is working for him or not. I think as long as it doesn't cause a health hazard, it's fine.”
The participation of Shakib Al Hasan in the second Test match in Kanpur is currently uncertain after reports about him undergoing a medical assessment on his injured finger from the first Test match in Chennai, came to the surface.
