The Tigers, who have already lost to India and hosts Sri Lanka, will meet the Pakistanis in a day-night clash in Colombo on July 29.

Javed, who scored consecutive fifties in the two first phase games, missed the other matches due to a hamstring injury. But the right-hander returned to join teammates in the nets at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground yesterday.

However, his role was only restricted to being a helping hand.

"Javed has been improving, he is running faster. But if he aggravates his injury, he will be out for 6-7 weeks. We'd better not take that risk," said coach Dav Whatmore.

Bangladesh's next assignment is the ICC Champions Trophy in England in September followed by four back-to-back Test and one-day series at home starting in October.

With leading batsmen like captain Habibul Bashar, Rajin Saleh and Alok Kapali not only out of form but also lacking confidence, having Javed, known as a grafter, in the side would help settle the team's nerves.

Asked what was the problem with the top-order at the moment, Whatmore felt that it was rather of a lack of confidence than lack of technique.

"The middle-order was okay in the last match. But the lower-middle order looked a bit tentative to score runs against Sri Lanka," said a depressed Whatmore.

"The way they recovered to 190 after being reduced to 31-4, was very good. It's something we have been hoping for a long time. But after that partnership between Ashraful and Manjarul, we could have got to 220. Losing early wickets has been our main problem."

Commenting on the justification to include an out of sorts Rajin, the Bangladesh coach believed that with a frontline batsman injured, the team could ill afford to drop anybody.

"We have four fast bowlers and some spinners who can bat as well. With some boys (U-19s) playing in England, I don't think it was practical to bring a replacement for Javed.

If batting was always considered Bangladesh's cause for concern, the tournament asked some questions of the bowling department too.

"The last match was not too clever for our bowlers. Still we have to improve in this area. We are not getting sides out and not taking wickets. So we have to sit and think about our formation in the future," Whatmore noted.

Worryingly, Bangladesh's only one genuine pacer in the side in Tapash Baisya has failed to take a single wicket in the tournament so far. Veteran Khaled Mahmud did not look at all effective as a new ball bowler against the Lankans. All-rounder Mushfiqur Rahman has missed two games while paceman Tareq Aziz was not only costly in his lone match, he was also punished heavily in the first warm-up game.

When asked about the Pakistan match, Whatmore said: "From our point of view, we have to make an effort, push the opposition hard. We have had not done that in the last two matches. In the second phase, other teams had easy victories against us, so our confidence level is a little worrying."