Infected hand delays Shakib's recovery, ruled out for three months

Shakib Al Hasan has undergone an emergency operation on the injured little finger on his left hand, after it had become infected during the Asia Cup. The pus had spread quite badly, going up to his left wrist, which was only spotted when he had gone to a Dhaka hospital on Thursday, hours after arriving from Dubai.

Doctors have told him that he will have to wait up to three weeks for the surgery on his injured finger, which will keep him out of competitive cricket for up to three months.

"The moment I arrived in the hospital, the doctors told me that I have to get the pus out as soon as possible," Shakib said to Prothom Alo. "Any delay would put me in great danger as the infection spread till my wrist. If I had waited another few days, my wrist would have become disabled.

"I feel better after they took out the pus, but the problem is until the infection isn't gone, there isn't going to be a surgery on my injured finger. It will take another 2-3 weeks to fix. After surgery I will need eight weeks, which means I am out for three months."

Shakib first noticed a swelling around his injured finger during the Asia Cup. It is understood that the infection started to form around the base of his little finger. Bangladesh physio Tihan Chandramohan sent Shakib's X-ray and scan reports regularly to doctors in Australia and England, one of whom suggested that there could be an infection.

Last Monday, Shakib underwent another scan as his pain had became unbearable, forcing him to withdraw from the Asia Cup. Shakib said that Chandramohan should have detected what was wrong when the swelling had increased around his injured finger.

"I have been in this state for the last 14-15 days. The doctor immediately understood what had happened, but our physio couldn't find out. It is true that the physio couldn't detect the problem. There was a bit of mistake so he has to take some of the responsibility. But I won't blame him fully. Nobody knew that it would become infected," he said.

Shakib added that he had decided to play in the Asia Cup after the physio had told him that there may not be any danger in doing so.

"The BCB president [Nazmul Hassan] asked if I could play the Asia Cup or I could go for the surgery. He told me to take the decision. When I asked the physio about what damage it may have, he told me it won't be that dangerous. Then I decided that since the Asia Cup is important for us, I will play 4-5 matches with the pain," said Shakib.

He had been originally injured in January, during the ODI tri-series final in Mirpur. Initially it was a sprain with some tissue damage and he missed the Test and T20I series against Sri Lanka, both of which Bangladesh lost. He then returned to the side, reportedly at the request of Nazmul Hassan during the Nidahas Trophy, which he was slated to miss as he hadn't recovered sufficiently from the finger injury.

After playing the T20I series against Afghanistan and the full West Indies tour from June to August, Shakib said that he needed the finger surgery before the Asia Cup. But hours later, Hassan suggested that he may as well "play and the endure the pain [as he had done for the past six months]."