There had been a lot of curiosity regarding his unavailability for the India game. Shakib said, that just as paceman Taskin Ahmed -- nursing a shoulder injury -- had been rested in the last match, the matter was about whether the Grade-1 tear injury will be aggravated if the skipper played the India game.

None of the members of the team faced the media yesterday in Mumbai, where the Tigers will play an in-form South Africa next.

“Can you please pass me the water bottle and make sure you give the chilled one,’’ Bangladesh vice-captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, drenched in sweat, asked team director Khaled Mahmud Sujon after completing his net session at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai yesterday.