Shakib Al Hasan

One of the top all-rounders across the cricketing landscape, Shakib Al Hasan is undoubtedly the best cricketer to come from the land of Bangladesh. His aggressive left-hand batting, slow left-arm orthodox, and athleticism on-field makes him a premier force in world cricket. The Jessore-born has also captained his national side and was named ICC’s Number 1 all-rounder across all formats in 2015. 

Shakib started playing cricket at a very young age and before making his first-class debut was often contacted by different teams to play for them. He made his first-class debut against Zimbabwe in 2005 and a year later, made his International debut against the same team in an ODI. In the same series, the all-rounder made his T20I debut and then he got his maiden Test cap.

A young Shakib smacked his maiden ODI ton against Canada, just before the 2007 World Cup and then featured in the global event. During Bangladesh’s historic victory against India in the World Cup, Shakib scored a well-composed 50 and bowled an economical 10-over spell.

Due to his ability to change the game with both bat and ball, Shakib got his maiden Test cap against India in 2007. From there on, the national selectors persisted with the all-rounder and the cricketer also started delivering. 

In 2009, Shakib was named the vice-captain of his national side. Then, with back-to-back injuries to Mashrafe Mortaza, the premier all-rounder was handed the captaincy role for his country. He proved himself by staying calm under pressure. Bangladesh won 22 out of 47 games under his captaincy, including their victory over England in the 2011 World Cup. However, after a disappointing tour of Zimbabwe, Shakib was removed as captain. 

The all-rounder has also had his fair share of disciplinary issues too. In 2010, during an ODI against New Zealand, Shakib the then captain, while batting threatened to hit a person who walked through the sightscreen. While in February 2014, BCB handed Shakib a fine BDT 3 lakh and a 3-ODIs suspension, because he made an indecent gesture towards his crotch during an ODI against Sri Lanka. Also during the 2018 Nidahas Trophy, ICC fined Shakib with 25% of the match fees, when he pressurized the authorities by walking-off the field to denote the umpiring errors. 

In 2015, when Bangladesh had the best year in ODIs, Shakib was proven to be their trump-card. In the 2015 World Cup, his performances with both bat and ball helped his side to get into the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time. He also played a major role in the series wins over India, Pakistan, and South Africa. 

In 2017, post Mortaza’s retirement from the shortest format, Shakib took the captaincy role in T20Is for the first time and then after Mushfizur Rahim’s removal, he was appointed as skipper for the Test format. However, in the same year, he took a sabbatical from the longest format to concentrate on white-ball cricket. 

The 2019 ICC World Cup proved to be the watershed moment in Shakib’s career. He scored 606 runs and finished as the third highest run-scorer in the event. In addition to that, he scalped 11 wickets and became the first all-rounder to score over 600 runs and take ten wickets in a single World Cup. Shakib also equalled Yuvraj Singh’s record of scoring a fifty and taking a fifer in a World Cup game when he achieved the feat against West Indies. However, post the multilateral series, his career took a hindrance when ICC banned him for one year.  

In 2019, the Bangladeshi all-rounder got banned by ICC for two years for failing to report three corruption approaches to the governing body or his board. Later, Shakib accepted the charges which led to suspension of one-year ban. In January 2021, the star all-rounder returned to the game during the West Indies’s tour of Bangladesh.

Shakib has also been a prolific performer across the globe. In 2007, he got his county contract from Worcestershire. While in 2011, he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders where he played the next seven seasons and won two IPL trophies with them. His services were acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018 and featured for them for the next two seasons. After missing the 2020 season, SRH released Shakib for the 2021 Auction where KKR bought him at a whopping cost of INR 3.2 crore for the 14th season. Over the years, the all-rounder has also provided his services in BBL, BPL, CPL, Global T20 and PSL. 

In the last decade or so, Shakib has enjoyed some extraordinary success as an all-rounder and has broken many countless records in his career. The star all-rounder has lost nearly two years at his prime and with less of his playing days left than the days he has already played, he would like to make the most out of his remaining career. 

(As of March 2021)