sakib al hasan

A vital cog in the Bangladeshi line-up, Shakib
Al Hasan, unarguably, has been the best all-
rounder to have emerged from Bangladesh. He
first came into notice when he played cricket
for several villages near his hometown of
Magura. The left-hander spent time honing his
skills at a government run sports facility and
was picked for the Under-19 squad for the tri-
series featuring England and Sri Lanka. A
match-winning 86-ball century and three
wickets in the final against Sri Lanka earned
him selection for the series against
Zimbabwe.
Just before the 2007 World Cup, Shakib shot
to limelight scoring a hundred against Canada
in a tri-series in West Indies. And on the big
stage, in their opening match against one of
the favourites India, he scored a composed
fifty and bowled 10 tight overs for 44 runs
without a wicket as Bangladesh secured one
of their biggest wins.
What helped Shakib standout in a crop of new
Bangladeshi talent that surfaced during
mid-2000s was his ability to be consistent.
Soon after his heroics against India, Shakib
scored a ton against Pakistan. And then, a
year later facing New Zealand, he returned
with figures of 7/36, which till date is the
best figures by a Bangladeshi bowler. In what
turned out to be a major milestone of his
career, he also contributed with a fifty in the
second innings to set New Zealand a
challenging 317. However, with little support,
he ended up on the losing side.
Having taken over captaincy from Mohammad
Ashraful, Shakib became the first Bangladeshi
captain to lead his side to an overseas Test
win, beating a depleted West Indies in 2009.
Later that year Shakid decided to have a feel
of overseas conditions as well. He was the
first Bangladeshi player to be signed by a
county team. He joined Worcestershire for the
2010 season.
As expected Shakib's stint with
Worcestershire exposed him to different
challenges and he returned a complete
cricketer. While in England, he took 35
wickets in a single season, including his best
figures of 7/32 against Middlesex to help the
County get promoted to Division 1 of the
championship. Along the way, he was the
leading wicket-taker and run-scorer when
Bangladesh achieved a whitewash over New
Zealand in 2010.
Shakib led well during 2011 World Cup that
Bangladesh hosted alongside India and Sri
Lanka. The team registered wins against
England, Ireland and Netherlands but failed to
go beyond the first round. Heavy criticism
followed team's exit from the World Cup but
putting all that aside he shone bright for
Kolkata during the 2011 IPL.
After he was removed from captaincy ahead
of the tour of West Indies, Shakib decided to
answer through his performances, and finished
as the highest wicket-taker in both the ODIs
and Tests. Although, once again he was on
the wrong side of the result. Later in the year,
Shakib was Bangladesh's top run-scorer and
wicket-taker in the home Test series against
Pakistan in December 2011. In the second
Test of the series, he became Bangladesh's
first player to score a century and take five
wickets in an innings. Fittingly, he rose to No.
1 in the ICC's ranking of Test all-rounders.
Another big moment in his cricketing career
came when he was at the forefront of
Bangladesh's run to the final of the Asia Cup
where they lost to Pakistan by two runs.
Shakib scored 237 runs, including three fifties
and also took six wickets. He was adjudged
as the Player of the Tournament award and he
reclaimed the No.1 ODI all-rounder spot from
Australia's Shane Watson. Later that year in
the 2012 edition of the IPL, Shakib played in
eight of Kolkata's 18 matches and won two
Man of the Match awards as the team won
the IPL for the first time.
During the home series against West Indies in
2012, Shakib became the second Bangladeshi
player to take 100 Test wickets, making him
the leading wicket-taker in Tests for
Bangladesh. He also achieved the feat of
becoming the fastest all-rounder to take 100
wickets and score 1,000 runs. He achieved
the milestone in just 28 matches. However,
he was ruled out of the ODI and T20 series
due to a shin injury.
It's not that his career has been free of
controversies, he was punished by the BCB
for making an inappropriate gesture on live
television during the second ODI against Sri
Lanka in February 2014. He was also fined
300,000 Takas (3800 USD) and was
suspended for the next three matches, which
included the first two matches of the 2014
Asia Cup.
Shakib recovered from the blow and as
expected emerged as Bangladesh's best
bowler in T20 WC, 2014. However his solo
heroics were not good enough to help
Bangladesh win a single match in the
tournament. A few months later in June 2014,
Shakib was allegedly involved in a brawl with
a spectator, who was reportedly harassing his
wife in the grandstand of Sher-e-Bangla
National Cricket Stadium, during the first ODI
against India. His 'severe attitude problem'
over the months forced the BCB to ban him
for six months from all forms of cricket. The
ban was reduced to three and a half months,
allowing him to be available for selection
from September 15, 2014.
In November 2014, Shakib joined a
prestigious list that had names of Imran Khan
and Ian Botham. He became only the third
player in the history to score a hundred and
take 10 wickets in the same Test. He
achieved this feat against Zimbabwe. Later
that year he was was signed by the
Melbourne Renegades to play in the Big Bash
League.
Post a successful World Cup campaign in
2015, Bangladesh continued their good form
in the 50-over format. The consistent Shakib
played a huge factor in his team’s hat-trick of
ODI series victories - against Pakistan, India
and South Africa - all at home. Barring his
unbeaten 50 against Pakistan, Shakib didn’t
have a great WT20 held in India in 2016 and
that didn’t help his team’s cause as they
failed to register a single win during the
Super-10 stage. He terms the one-run defeat
against India in Bengaluru and the 2012 Asia
Cup final loss as two of his major cricket
regrets he would like to erase.
Although Shakib didn’t contribute much with
the bat, he played the perfect foil to debutant
Mehedi Hasan during the Test series against
England. The all-rounder picked 12 wickets in
two matches and helped his team square the
2-match Test series 1-1, that also involved
Bangladesh’s first Test victory against
England. The tour to New Zealand saw Shakib
reach greater heights when he amassed 217
runs in the first innings at Wellington. He was
involved in a record 359-run stand with
Rahim. But, he followed it up with a duck
before Bangladesh collapsed and lost the
game despite posting a gigantic score of 595
in the first essay.
After a decent outing in the one-off Test
against India, Shakib had a superb tour of Sri
Lanka. He brought up his fifth Test ton in
Bangladesh’s historic 100th Test match. That
knock proved to be instrumental in
Bangladesh winning the match and squaring
the series 1-1. He was the Man of the Series
for scoring 162 runs and taking 9 wickets. In
the shortest format as well, his all-round
performances helped Bangladesh level the
T20I series 1-1. After Mortaza announced his
retirement from the 20-over format, BCB
appointed Shakib as the T20I skipper.
Bangladesh's rise across the formats has
been a reflection of the giant strides Shakib
took in his career. However, in September
2017, Shakib requested the board to allow
him a break from Test cricket. The move was
seen as a well thought one to prolong the
career at a time when the growing demands
of non-stop cricket had started taking its toll
on cricketers. The board agreed partially -
Shakib had asked for a six-month break - and
allowed him to skip the Test series against
South Africa.