Bangladesh confident injured Shakib will play Windies

Bangladesh are optimistic that all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will recover from a thigh injury in time for Monday’s World Cup match against West Indies in Taunton, their coach Steve Rhodes has said. Shakib strained a muscle in his left thigh while batting against England in Cardiff last week, but fought past the pain to make 121 runs as Bangladesh lost by 106 runs.

The 32-year old, who has scored 260 runs at the tournament so far, was a doubt for Tuesday’s match against Sri Lanka, which was subsequently abandoned, and Rhodes is confident the extra week’s rest will do him good. “He picked up a little injury in that game against England and he fought on and battled on and played extremely well with an injury,” Rhodes told reporters on Tuesday.