Shakib inches closer to summit

Shakib Al Hasan is just four wickets away from toppling Lasith Malinga and become the highest wicket-taker in twenty20 internationals after he picked up a couple on Wednesday against New Zealand, earning him the player of the match award.

The all-rounder started from just where he left off in the Australia series. In his last match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur, he picked four wickets and earned the player of the match award by bundling the Aussies for a paltry score of 62 runs, and on Wednesday, he ran havoc over the other Tasmanian country.

Shakib took two wickets in his four overs for only ten runs. He removed Will Young for five and Cole McConchie for a duck to take his total wicket tally to 104, just three wickets short of touching Malinga at the peak.

But the Numero Uno in ICC’s all-rounder ranking said that he seeks inspiration from personal goals but focuses on collective effort.

“When I make any achievement, it obviously gives me a good feeling. But I don’t want to keep in mind what personal goals I achieved. If I keep performing and contributing to the team, it will fall into place. I am never really focused on such landmarks, but when I hear from others about milestones, it makes me happy and inspires me to do well more,” Shakib said in the post-match media conference.

The allrounder also scored 25 runs while chasing 61 after Bangladesh lost both the openers cheaply. Shakib said that batting was very difficult on such a surface.

“I think the wicket is tougher than what we got in the series against Australia. Yet, I think that we bowled very well, bowled in the right areas. And as the New Zealand team was inexperienced regarding such conditions, they struggled a lot,” said Shakib.

Shakib also said that the conventional T20I approach will not work out on such a surface.

“See, It’s very important to pick as many singles as you can. One should focus on running between the wickets because hitting boundaries are very difficult here. So one should be in a positive frame of mind, pick ones and twos to get set and release the pressure and after that try to punish the bad ball to capitalise,” he told the reporters.