Najmul Hossain Shanto on Wednesday said he has found some silver linings during his hiatus in the recently concluded Bangladesh Premier League.
Shanto, who is set to lead the national team in the forthcoming Champions Trophy, spent most of the tournament on the bench due to his struggles with form.
The southpaw managed to play only five matches and scored a total of 56 runs. But his captain at Fortune Barishal, Tamim Iqbal, said that he was sidelined because of their team combination.
However, Shanto found some positives when he was not playing.
鈥楢lhamdulillah. I think, though I couldn鈥檛 play matches, there were some positives. I got the opportunity to work on my batting more to prepare myself. The coaches also helped me,鈥� Shanto said during a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.
鈥楤esides that, I worked on my fitness. I was able to prepare myself during that time of BPL. I hope if everything is alright, the tournament will go well.鈥�
Shanto last represented his country in an ODI against Afghanistan at Sharjah in November 2024 before sustaining an injury that ruled him out of the subsequent West Indies tour.
But his performance in ODI cricket over the past 12 months has been impressive, as he scored 286 runs in five innings at an average of 71.50, including one century and one half-century. In his last innings against Afghanistan, he scored a well-crafted 76.
Shanto admitted that the T20 format did not go well for him, but he was confident with his ODI form.
鈥業 played a good innings against Afghanistan in the last match. I couldn鈥檛 play T20s,鈥� said Shanto.
鈥業鈥檓 not in a good position in that format. To be honest, I scored runs last year, though my strike rate wasn鈥檛 up to the mark. But in terms of scoring runs, I did well. But I believe that in terms of the capability, I鈥檓 better than that.鈥�
When Shanto takes the field in Bangladesh鈥檚 first match against India on February 20, it will be nearly a five-week gap since his last appearance in a competitive match.
But Shanto wasn鈥檛 concerned with that fact. He said, 鈥業鈥檓 not thinking about that format. The ODIs are going well.鈥�
鈥榃ill play a match after a long time. Match practice has been going on; yesterday we had a match scenario. There鈥檚 another one today. There will be a practice match. So the practice will be there. And we鈥檝e been playing this format since our childhood. So it won鈥檛 be a problem to adjust,鈥� added Shanto.