Four years back, the country's top all-rounder, Shakib Al Hasan, was engulfed by the type of pressure that all athletes feel at least once in their careers: the pressure of not performing on the field. 

Like any champion professional, Shakib passed in flying colours. Instead of getting weighed down by the burden of being sidelined by his Indian Premier League outfit for most of the games that season, Shakib rose gloriously as he made the 2019 World Cup in England his own. He took 11 wickets and scored 606 runs in eight games, surpassing the record of Sachin Tendulkar for most runs in a World Cup group stage.

The strain of dealing with an ICC investigation for failing to report corrupt approaches was also on the all-rounder, but that was all his to cope with because that dark period of his career was only revealed a few months after the mega event that year.

Four years on, Shakib is all set for another World Cup as the Tigers begin their campaign today by taking on Afghanistan in Dharamshala. This will be his fifth overall appearance in the apex event and second as the captain of Bangladesh after having led the side in the 2011 edition.

Have the controversies surrounding the 36-year-old died down? Not at all -- albeit unsurprising for a cricketer who rarely keeps his wiles reserved only for the field.

Things have unfolded in a different and a much uglier manner for Shakib this time around. Not only the issues are mostly a creation of his own, but also none pertains to on-field cricket and have already been laid bare in public.

A public feud between the Bangladesh captain and his long-time national team comrade Tamim Iqbal, the country's finest opener, has practically divided the nation into two parts -- a very unusual and unprecedented development considering how the opposite always happens for any country going into a world event.

Shakib only made things worse, flinging mud and throwing accusations of 'not being a team man' at Tamim during an explosive interview with T Sports just before leaving the country for the World Cup in India. 

Shakib knew how his statements were going to be taken, fuelling even further the already raging clash of egos between the two stalwarts, and even their fanbases, while making a mockery of Bangladesh cricket and its governing body, the Bangladesh Cricket Board. 

The all-rounder has almost never let any off-field issue catch up to him while on it. But this time, it is a different challenge altogether even for someone as nonchalant as Shakib.

If he goes on to live by his words, it will be the 36-year-old's World Cup swansong. But more important than that is he is in charge of a team that have lost way in their most favoured format amid all the hullabaloo.   

His 2019 campaign was exceptional, but only on a personal level. What he needs to do in 2023 is much more wide-reaching. Unlike what Shakib had said in that interview -- that he would have preferred to just focus on his own game this World Cup -- the 36-year-old will need to gel the whole team together not only by performing on the field but also by making everyone else flourish through his leadership.

Maybe only then the people of the country will once again be united, rallying behind the team as it should have been from the onset.