Our preparation for T20 World Cup is not ideal: Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan feels that Bangladesh could have prepared their international and domestic schedules differently to get better preparation for the T20 World Cup 2024.

The Bangla Tigers are currently involved in a five-match T20I series at home against Zimbabwe and will subsequently take on the United States in Houston before next month's marquee event. Legendary all-rounder Shakib opined that Bangladesh are NOT preparing ideally for the T20 World Cup as they are not facing the top sides in world cricket.

"It will be wrong if we think about the World Cup by considering our performance against Zimbabwe and USA. World Cup will be played in a different place and the more we can handle pressure, chances will be higher of doing well," Shakib told reporters in Dhaka on Saturday.

Ahead of the last edition of the T20 World Cup in 2022, Bangladesh faced New Zealand and Pakistan in a tri-series as part of their preparation. Although they didn't manage to win games in the series, they put in spirited efforts and got some decent practice. In the World Cup, Bangladesh earned their first win in the main phase, beating Netherlands by nine runs in their opening game of the campaign, their first win in the event since defeating West Indies in 2007. The Asian side went on to beat Zimbabwe by three runs to earn their second win in the main phase and were on course to reach the semi-final. However, a defeat to Pakistan quashed their hopes.

"In the last World Cup we performed reasonably and though we didn't do extremely well no one will say we did bad. If that is our benchmark then we have a chance of crossing it in this World Cup and if we want to do that we have to win three matches in the first round," he said.

"A big reason behind playing against USA is to get adapted to their conditions and to know about the place because there are not too many players who played in USA. Very few have the experience of playing there in Florida (2018) and we will get accustomed with the conditions by playing this series but at the same time I would say this is not ideal (preparation-wise). In Australia (T20 World Cup in 2022) we went after playing against New Zealand and Pakistan and so certainly we went to the World Cup on the back of very good preparation and taking that into consideration this is not ideal. But this is the best we can as far as preparation is concerned," the 37-year-old added.

Also Read: Twitter Reactions: Bangladesh enforce dramatic Zimbabwe collapse in series opener

Shakib Al Hasan criticises BCB for organising DPL in 50-over format amid heatwave

Bangladesh is going through a severe heatwave at the moment. Shakib stated the the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) could have organised the Super League phase of the Dhaka Premier League (DPL), the premier List A tournament in the country, in the T20 format to avoid keeping players out on the field all day in the adverse weather conditions. The stalwart also opined that this tweak would have provided the national team players some good practice ahead of the T20 World Cup.

"It would have been better if the Super League( DPL) is played in T20 format. It is inhuman to be in the ground for the whole day under this heat. It could be handled more responsibly. We have T20 World Cup ahead and in that case it would have been helpful for the national team. Somehow it did not happen," he added.

Also Read: Shakib, Mustafizur to miss first three Zimbabwe T20Is

Bangladesh are placed in Group D in the showpiece event alongside Sri Lanka, South Africa, Netherlands, and Nepal. They will begin their campaign against former champions Sri Lanka on June 8 in Dallas.