Shakib Al Hasan returned to Bangladesh's World Cup camp in Kolkata on Thursday evening, cutting short his three-day Dhaka trip to two days. Shakib had gone to Dhaka on October 25 to have a nets session with his childhood mentor Nazmul Abedeen Fahim.
Bangladesh trained at Eden Gardens on Wednesday under lights, without Shakib of course, who had taken the evening flight from Dhaka. He reached the team hotel around 8.45pm where the team manager Rabeed Imam received him. Coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, on his way out to dinner, also met Shakib at the reception.
According to the team management, Shakib didn't tell them that he was returning home for cricketing reasons. Team director Khaled Mahmud, who is the head of the Bangladesh delegation in India, said that Shakib had said it was for "personal reasons" that he was going to Dhaka from Mumbai the day after their 149-run defeat to South Africa.
"We have no idea about this," Mahmud had told the Dhaka-based Kaler Kantho on Wednesday. "He may have gone to Fahim bhai since he is not batting well. But we didn't know about this. [Wednesday] was travel and rest day. [Thursday] is optional training. That's why coach gave him the two-day break. He said that he had some personal matters in Dhaka. We know that much only."
Shakib reached Dhaka on Wednesday morning, going straight to the Shere Bangla National Stadium nets where Fahim met him. Shakib batted under his watch for three hours.
Shakib has struggled with the bat at this World Cup, having scored just 56 runs in four innings. He has taken six wickets so far.
Bangladesh have an afternoon training session in Kolkata on October 27, with the match against Netherlands on the following day.