Published: Mar 05, 2011, 12:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 03, 2014, 10:49 PM (IST)
By Nakib Khan
One of the finest all-rounders and without a doubt one of the finest players produced by the country, Shakib Al Hasan has proved to be one of the best campaigners for Bangladesh.
But is Bangladesh relying a bit too much on him?
Shakib has successfully manned the role of a skilled middle-order batsman, a fine spinner and an inspirational captain. One must thus look elsewhere than at Shakib to address the challenges facing the team. Cricket is not a one man show, no matter how good a player is.
The Bangladesh team should learn how to make the most out of all players instead of a few. The absence of consistency has been the bane of Bangladesh in this World Cup.
Mohammad Ashraful has been a disappointment. Though talented, he is lacking in performance to match the talent. The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s decision to select him in the squad for a tournament of this nature is perplexing.
Bangladesh needs to put on a real team effort in the remaining matches. With the home crowd on their side and familiar pitch conditions, it is not impossible, but then one can never speak too soon. If there are other good batsmen that can accompany Tamim Iqbal‘s aggression and Shakib’s sensible batting, a good total may be on the horizon.
Pacers Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam need to concentrate on line and length as on the subcontinent pitches its accuracy and not pace which is advantageous. If they can improve their accuracy it would definitely be a formidable complement for their world-class spinners Abdur Razzak and the one and only Shakib.
(Nakib Khan, 23, hails from a small town called Kishoreganj in Bangladesh. After living first five years in Bangladesh, he migrated to Riyadh for 13 years. He then did his BSc in Aerospace Engineering at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and moved to the United States where he is a teacher in Los Angeles. But despite his multi-cultural influence, cricket continues to be his passion. Bangladesh apart, his other favourite team is Sri Lanka)
