Shahriar Nafees geared up for West Indies challenge – Cricket News Update
Bangladesh batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760, commencing in Dhaka, on Tuesday, November 13, 2012.
Nafees, the former vice-captain of Bangladesh, has not played for the national team for almost a year. The 26-year-old top order batsman last played for the Tigers in December last year, in a Test match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in Mirpur. That Test was a memorable one for the Dhaka batsman. While the hosts went on to lose the match by seven wickets, Nafees provided the side with some respectability, playing a composed knock of 97 runs.
Despite playing an impressive innings in the lost Test, the left-hander lost his central contract with the board and was subsequently overlooked for all the limited-overs assignments, including the Asia Cup and the World T20 tournament. Away from the national side, Nafees spent most of his time playing for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 A team. Last week, the BCB selectors included him in the Test squad for the first Test of the home two-match series against West Indies, ending his almost a year-long exile.
While speaking to media reporters ahead of the match, the top-order batsman conceded that not playing international cricket for over a year was frustrating, however he was confident of making a good comeback.
"Not playing cricket for over a year is frustrating no doubt. But I don't want that to be an excuse," said Nafees, a veteran of 21 Tests and 75 One Day Internationals. "If I don't play well now, people won't notice that I didn't play for a year. If I do perform they'll praise me and that's what matters. We just have to play well in this series and make use of this series," he added further.
Nafees returns to the national setup at the back of some lukewarm performances in domestic cricket – 528 runs in 23 matches across all formats – and has not played exceptionally for the A team as well. However, he is taking heart from the 2011 season, which saw him smashing five half-centuries, including that 97 against Pakistan.
"I am happy, I played well in ODIs last year and got runs in Test cricket. I played regularly in 2011 so I was pretty happy. But I haven't played after a gap, so I have to do well," said the former Bangladesh vice-captain.
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