Who will answer for Shakib?

It is a twist of fate that two different Asia Cups have been witness to two stages in Bangladesh's evolution. Along with evolution, of course, comes growth amid turmoil and Bangladesh have had much of both in the 2012 tournament and the ongoing one in the UAE where they will contest for the trophy against overwhelming favourites India.

In 2012, Bangladesh were rank outsiders but they surprised all pre-tournament forecasts by outclassing both Sri Lanka and India before enduring the heartbreak of losing the final by a mere two runs against Pakistan. 'So near, yet so far' was the soundtrack of heartbreak then, but years later cricketers and fans alike look back at that tournament wistfully as the point where Bangladesh cricket matured into a force to be reckoned with.

Six years later, however, it is a different evolution but it has come with the same growing pains. For long, even after their previous step up, the Tigers had been a team that could come up with stellar performances but tended to lose the plot when there were setbacks. And it was a certain kind of setback that hurt them the most: a loss of form or absence of one or more of the five cricketers who have thus far lifted Bangladesh to its greatest heights: skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad. Incidentally, all of these cricketers were part of their first real ascension to cricketing prominence in 2012.

Now, however, the two cricketers from that bunch who have done more than any other to change perceptions and expectations of Bangladesh cricket -- Tamim and Shakib -- are out of the Asia Cup with injuries. In 2012, Shakib was the player of the series and Tamim had hit four consecutive half-centuries.

With Tamim already having flown home on September 18 with a fracture to his left hand, Shakib's absence was a shock to the team on the morning of their virtual semifinal against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Yet, just as the team had somehow found a way to win Sunday's match against Afghanistan without Tamim to stay in contention for the final, they roared into the final with a bowling and fielding performance worthy of Tigers against Pakistan to win by 37 runs around the time that Shakib was unpacking his bags in Dhaka.

"Both tournaments have their separate respect and value. In 2012 we could not win anything, we won rarely," said Mashrafe in the pre-final press conference at the hotel yesterday, a rest day after the exertions of the Pakistan match in the searing heat. "We won against big teams on the odd day. Now we were at a stage that whenever we won big matches, our best performers were Shakib, Tamim and Mushfiqur on most occasions. Mustafizur [Rahman] too. But to come to this stage without our two best players is a big achievement. The boys can feel proud of it, but there is still one match, if they can give their best shot I hope it will be a good match."

It was not too long ago that this was not the case. In South Africa last October Bangladesh surrendered without a whimper without Shakib in the Tests, and in the ODIs without Tamim in the last two matches. In the home tri-series final against Sri Lanka in January, they lost the plot after Shakib left the field with injury -- the same one to the left little finger that requires surgery now -- and succumbed to defeat not just in that match but in the following Test and T20I series.

Evolution, of course, retains the toughest and best bits from the past and Bangladesh have retained the toughest component in the skipper, who has inspired the team with bold decisions throughout the tournament, and the masterful Mushfiqur -- whose batting throughout has compensated for top-order failures. Regardless of who wins today, Bangladesh will be richer for having evolved into a team that can overcome the harshest setbacks and come out on top.

Prior to his departure for Australia on Friday night, premier Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan said that his injured finger would never be the same again.

“This finger [his left little finger] will not be 100 per cent okay again. Since the bone is soft here, there is no possibility to fix it like it was before. By operating they [the doctors] will bring it to a position so that I can grip the bat well and continue my career as a cricketer,” Shakib told reporters with a somber voice at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

His latest statement is quite moving, especially after the way his injury was handled by the team management during last month's Asia Cup in the UAE.

Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mahmud told reporters the night before the Tigers' virtual semifinal against Pakistan that Shakib's chance of playing the game on September 26 was 50-50. However, the following day the 31-year-old all-rounder took a flight back home with a painful and swollen little finger. Upon his return to Dhaka, he was scheduled to fly to the United States within the next couple of days to have an operation on his injured finger. But after he experienced severe pain, he was admitted to a city hospital, where the doctors removed 50 to 60 mg of pus. He stayed at the hospital for four days to make sure the infection subsided.

The amount of pus removed from his finger and the severity of the infection raised the question that he might not have been properly treated by the Bangladesh cricket team's physio Thihan Chandramohan when the key Bangladesh player was with the team in Dubai from mid-September. Although the physio never spoke regarding the issue and avoided inquisitive reporters when he went to see Shakib at the hospital on September 30, the notion that the injury aggravated dramatically and that Shakib was under constant monitoring in Dubai is quite incredulous.

In the Asia Cup, where Bangladesh eventually finished runners-up after losing that nail-biting final against India, opener Tamim Iqbal was put on hero's a perch for batting with one hand in the tournament opener against Sri Lanka. Tamim certainly defied warnings from the physio when he came out to bat with a fractured left wrist. But at any point did the physio -- the technical support person who is paid heavily by the Bangladesh Cricket Board -- warn that if Shakib kept on playing with his injured finger it would be a career-damaging endeavour? If that was not the case then it was a clear case of negligence, primarily on the part of the physio and the team management in general.

“There is no question of negligence. Our effort is to provide the best possible treatment to Shakib. He is our key player and we want him to recover fully and return to national duty soon,” BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said yesterday.

“Our priority is Shakib's safety. We are also working on it to find out if there was anything wrong in the assessment (by the physio),” added the chief executive.

Shakib sustained the injury during the tri-nation ODI final against Sri Lanka in January this year and was subsequently sidelined for two Tests and as many T20Is against the Lankans. Although he returned to action in March during the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka, he was advised to have an operation at a suitable time. Prior to the Asia Cup, Shakib said he was only 20 to 30 per cent fit. But nobody -- the coach, the captain and the board president -- entertained the suggestion. Shakib, in pain, played the Asia Cup and unfortunately was not his usual self either with the ball or the bat. He tried to make up for that physical deficiency with mental toughness. But it was only after he collapsed that everyone took his claim seriously.

“No one is indispensible. Bangladesh played well without a couple of key players in the Asia Cup. There is always scope for a new player to step in,” Shakib said on Friday night, adding that if everything goes well he would be able to return to action for the Bangladesh Premier League in January next year.

True, no one is indispensible. But Shakibs are rare in world cricket and extremely precious for Bangladesh.

Before the start of the tournament Bangladesh players had been saying that their target was to win the Asia Cup with captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza getting the players together and telling them during session that the team was not going to the UAE just to make up the numbers.

Mushfiqur Rahim, who has been Tigers' saviour in more than one occasion in this tournament knows a thing or two about playing pressure matches against one of their biggest Asian rivals India, who have a certain mental edge over Bangladesh having beaten the Tigers in a closely-fought contest recently in the Nidahas Trophy final where Dinesh Karthik hit a six off the very last ball to clinch the three-nation tournament's final. Mushfiqur, having played many tight contests against India can gauge the level of pressure that accompanies crucial encounters like finals and knows that putting pressure on opposition players who are also 'human beings' can and will work to Bangladesh's advantage.

"Confidence is there although we haven't played our best yet, I feel, in the three departments.

"We have been struggling in the batting group in the top order. If we click there against India [it could make a difference] – and you know India are playing outstanding cricket in this tournament, but they are also human beings and they are bound to make mistakes," he said.

After yesterday's victory in the do-or-die in virtual semifinal game, Tigers are once again just a step away from realizing their dreams, having twice made the final in the last three editions of the tournament. The Asia Cup dream is once again possible and Tigers' batsman Mushfiqur reiterated that they have been working on their goal of reaching the final first.

"Of course it is possible [winning the Asia Cup] . People live in dream and hope. And this was our target before the Asia Cup, that we at least make the final. Then in the championship match if we play our best cricket, then what will happen will happen. Since we have worked this hard and come this far, we of course have a chance."

Tigers were outplayed by India in the last edition of the tournament which was a T20 tournament. However, Mushfiqur said that since Bangladesh have been able to win against India before, the task in front of them is not impossible.

"If we can play our best cricket, then beating India is not impossible – we've done it before. Maybe we have not done it as consistently as we would have liked," he concluded.

Ending all speculation and controversies about his finger injury, Bangladesh Test captain Shakib Al Hasan is all set to return to action after selectors included him in the 13-member Test squad for the first Test against the West Indies.

The match will be held in Chattogram from November 22.

There was a lot of confusion about the gravity of his injury as he was forced to return home from the UAE midway through the Asia Cup in September.

However, Shakib returned from Australia last month following treatment with a big smile and had then informed that he expected to be back on the field within three months. He added that he wanted to test whether cricketing activities would cause pain to the finger that he had initially injured in January this year.

The controversy had mainly surrounded a possible surgery, but the 31-year-old informed after his return from Australia that there was no possibility of undergoing the knife over the next six to 12 months, adding that the best outcome would be to be able to play without surgery. He also stated that the injured finger would never be a hundred per cent again, but it was nothing that would stop him playing cricket.

Shakib returned to training earlier this week after a month-long rehabilitation programme and started batting last Wednesday. Chief selector Minhajul Abedin informed yesterday that the all-rounder was fit.

Although opener Tamim Iqbal is yet to recover from his injury, Minhajul added that the left-hander has a chance of being available for the second Test against the West Indies, to be held in Mirpur from November 30.

Soumya Sarkar and 17-year-old off-spinner Nayeem Hasan were the other inclusions in the Test squad, which was trimmed to 13 players from the 15-member squad that had been named against Zimbabwe. Liton Das, Nazmul Hossain, Abu Jayed, Shafiul Islam and Nazmul Islam were all dropped.