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Shakib Al Hasan will start his third tenure as the Test captain of the Bangladesh national team when he will go out to flip the coin along with Kraigg Brathwaite at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Friday.
The all-rounder will replace Mominul Haque, who led Bangladesh in the last 17 Tests since Shakib was banned for an undisclosed conversation with a bookie.
Shakib is starting his journey as the Test captain for the third time, and coincidentally, his two previous tenures also began at the Caribbeans.
In 2009, Shakib was made captain when Mashrafe Bin Mortaza suffered a knee injury, and his deputy Shakib carried the baton from there. Though officially Mashrafe was the captain of the first Test in Kingstown, Shakib took charge in his absence.
From the second Test of the series at St. George, Shakib was officially made the skipper, and he led from the front by taking eight wickets and playing a knock of 96* runs to ensure Bangladesh’s first Test series win over West Indies.
Shakib’s first encounter with Test leadership was full of individual and collective success as he was adjudged both player of the match and the player of the series.
But when Shakib returned to the Caribbean in 2018 as the Test captain, his luck turned 180 degrees.
In the first innings of the first Test at North Sound, Bangladesh were all-out for just 43 runs, the team’s lowest total to date.
Shakib was out for a duck, and later, West Indies piled up 406 runs, and Bangladesh suffered a batting disaster again as they were all-out for 144 runs, leading to a defeat by an innings and 216 runs.
It will be very interesting to see what is in store for Shakib in the Caribbeans in his third attempt as the Test captain.
Generally, the Caribbean islands are quite generous with Shakib. The all-rounder scored his first international hundred in the Caribbeans. He played a knock of 134* runs in the tri-nation series right before the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup hosted by the West Indies.
Shakib also earned global fame when he scored a half-century in Bangladesh’s famous victory over India at Port of Spain, which ejected the star-studded Indian side out of the competition.
The all-rounder has played four Tests in West Indies so far and has amassed 257 runs with a best of 96*. Shakib’s average drops slightly when he plays in the Caribbeans, his career average is 39.17, while it is 36.71 in West Indies.
As a bowler, Shakib must be enjoying the Caribbeans because he has a fair share of success in these islands. He took 21 wickets here with a best of 6-33, he got five-wicket hauls twice.
Shakib is more mature and seasoned in his third stint as captain and must be looking forward to some great performances as skipper because this series is likely to be the last Test tour for him in the Caribbean as the 36-year-old is not playing longer version cricket regularly and might not be available when Bangladesh will tour West Indies for the next time.
