Shakib Al Hasan, a legend in the sport of cricket in Bangladesh, has long since reached the point in his career where he achieves a record or a personal milestone in every other match. This stage of his career continued on Tuesday, when the Tigers took on Afghanistan in the one-day international series finale in Chattogram.
After the away team acquired an unassailable 2-0 lead in the one-day international series, the remaining match in the competition was effectively rendered meaningless.
However, there was a lot on the line for the injured Tigers, who seemed to be shaken up by the news that their skipper Tamim Iqbal was about to retire until he changed his mind and opted for a six-week sabbatical. This year, Shakib and company will be competing in two important events in the format, and both of these competitions are quickly approaching.
Shakib once again highlighted his place in the upper echelons of cricketing superstars by demonstrating his ability to be a smooth operator even when his team is burdened with off-field controversies — often inflicted by Shakib himself — or loses collective form. Bangladesh capped off the disappointing series with a seven-wicket victory, one that saw as many as 159 balls unplayed in the second innings.
Shakib finished the day with a run-a-ball 39 followed by a wicket he picked up (having trapped Najibullah Zadran in front) while allowing a paltry 13 runs off of a full quota of 10 overs, including a maiden. Najibullah Zadran was trapped in front of the wicket. Even if he wasn’t the best player on the field, he still managed to achieve a few milestones thanks to his numbers.
One of these landmarks was a one-of-a-kind achievement, as it was reached when the “poster boy” of Bangladesh cricket became the only player in the history of cricket to record 14,000 runs and 600 wickets in international competition.
Shakib, who had previously taken over 600 wickets in international cricket but had 13,971 international runs to his name before the game began, scored the landmark number when he hammered debutant Abdul Rahman for a boundary in the 15th over of the game. This allowed Shakib to reach the score of 14,000 for the first time in his career.
In addition, he tied with the New Zealand icon Daniel Vettori to become the left-arm spinner with the second-highest number of scalps in one-day international matches, with 305.
Furthermore, he also equaled Vettori on another front as the nature of Najibullah’s demise totalled his leg before wicket victims to 59 — six behind the Sri Lankan spin maestro Muthiah Muralidaran who occupies the fifth slot in the list, and one ahead of his Afghan spin counterpart Rashid Khan. Rashid Khan is an Afghan spin bowler.
The 36-year-old Shakib must maintain training extra hard to overcome fitness-related challenges that ultimately catch up with every great player’s career in the latter stages of their playing careers.
Bangladesh will be hoping that Shakib can repeat the spectacular run he had at the 2019 One-Day International World Cup (ODI World Cup). However, the Tigers’ maverick has never been one to worry much about his team’s form.