Wearing a neck brace, Shakib Al Hasan leaves for Bangladesh’s warm-up before their match against the Netherlands in Kingstown. Has he injured himself? However, he wears the brace throughout his batting workouts. What is the purpose of this? It turns out that he was only attempting to maintain composure while high.
He has struggled with it ever since the 2023 ODI World Cup. Even at the nets, he was wearing the neck brace. And then highlighting how crucial a still head position is to him during the BPL.
Shakib was out to a bouncer in both of his innings prior to the Netherlands match; he had scored eight against Sri Lanka and three against South Africa. The form of Bangladesh’s top-order batsmen has also given cause for concern. When he left that day, the score was 23 for 2 in 3.1 overs. Perhaps for the first time in his career, he stood tall at the crease with a high backlift.
Tanzid Hasan was striking the ball well on the other end, and Shakib got things going in the sixth over by going after Logan van Beek, slamming short wide balls for two fours before hauling one over short fine-leg. Paul van Meekeren was the opponent Shakib faced. With a slice through backward point, he ended the over. Shakib reached 25 in a Twenty20 international for the first time this year, and the over was 19 runs.
Then Tim Pringle hit a straight-bat shot past midwicket. Considering that Shakib has primarily relied on hacks and slogs in T20Is over the past several years, this is a novel shot for him. He made it clear with this shot in particular that he would not give up in the middle of an over. Bangladesh needed to defeat the Netherlands, but Shakib also needed to score runs, and he was aware of this.
He gave Mahmudullah the freedom to go for the big smashes later in the innings, and the two veterans kept Bangladesh on track for a substantial total. In T20Is, Shakib achieved his fiftyth birthday, his first since October 2022. Additionally, it was his first fifty since the 2016 T20 World Cup. After that, Shakib and Jaker Ali added 54 to guarantee that Bangladesh had a solid finish.
In the powerplay, they had also scored 54 (for 2). These are noteworthy figures. Bangladesh has not scored 50 or more in the opening six and final five overs since traveling to this region of the world in mid-May. All of that along with crucial wickets taken by Mustafizur Rahman (1–12) and Rishad Hossain (3 for 33) gave Bangladesh a 25-run victory and a strong chance to advance to the Super Eight.
“I believed our assessment of the wicket was excellent. At the beginning, it wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on,” Shakib remarked at the post-match news conference. As the ball became older, scoring got easier. Although I believe the surface became easier in the second half, our bowlers performed admirably. With their subsequent overs, Rishad and the Fizz altered the course of events.”
Shakib said that Bangladesh’s bowling assault ultimately proved to be the difference in the game. In the final 32 balls, Netherlands moved from 111 for 3 to 134 for 8.
We had to bowl well because that was a tough total. Up until the 12th over, the score was tied at 50/50. Rishad and Mustafizur deserve praise. They were bowling extremely good at that point,” he said. For a time now, our bowling unit—especially the pace bowlers—has been performing admirably on a regular basis. I’ve also had success with Rishad’s contribution.
“In my opinion, [Rishad] had excellent character. The bowling unit as a whole fared well. Everyone carried out their duties in a responsible manner. Because Tanzim Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, and Mustafizur have all bowled effectively, the rest of the attack benefits as well.”
Shakib scored 68 from 46 balls to finish undefeated. This T20 World Cup, where hitters have typically struggled, was the perfect venue for the kind of innings that would have been out of place at, say, the Indian Premier League in 2024.
This was the first game when he started making runs. He was vulnerable to the short ball. He had the option to discard his wicket and performed so admirably throughout the years that a minor setback may not have been noticed. “I’ve never been serious about setting personal objectives. If I had been playing for my own aims, I would have batted differently. I was the team’s batter. I experienced runs. It is the most crucial element.”
Over the past few weeks, Shakib has been under intense scrutiny at home, especially for his dismissals against South Africa and Sri Lanka. Additionally, he still lacks a wicket.
A player doesn’t show up to respond to queries. He needs to do something for the group. He needs to hit with accuracy. With luck, he could be able to grab wickets. It is his responsibility to make saves and grabs. Answering a query on the topic, he answered, “There’s nothing else to say. “I believe that a player’s contribution to the squad is crucial if he is still playing. There will be discussion if he doesn’t, but it’s not necessarily a terrible thing in my opinion.”
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