Shakib not returning home, wife responds to rumours

Still just in its 19th year of Test cricket, it is understandable that the media and fans hail records that are Bangladesh-specific and once in a blue moon, records like Nayeem Hasan becoming the youngest cricketer in all of Test cricket to take five wickets on debut are rightly celebrated with gusto.

Conversely, no one has dared talk about a Bangladesh player taking his place among Test cricket's hallowed pantheon of greats. Yesterday, by becoming the fastest all-rounder to achieve the double of 2,000 Test runs and 3,000 Test wickets, Shakib Al Hasan established himself as one of the undoubted greats.

Unlike young Nayeem's record or Shohag Gazi becoming the only player to take a hattrick and score a hundred in the same match -- both of which are records born of brilliance on a day or two, Shakib's record has been built over a career extending back over 12 years, a prerequisite for being called great in cricket's oldest form.

He just pipped England's greatest all-rounder Ian Botham -- whose replacement the country are still pining for 26 years after he played his last Test -- to the mark by one match. The other three great all-rounders of the 1980s -- Imran Khan, Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee -- make up the top five but Kapil comes closest on 73 matches to Shakib's 54.

Other all-timers like Sir Garfield Sobers and Jacques Kallis come lower down the list. That is not to say that Shakib is a better player than the names mentioned -- Sobers and Kallis are two of the greatest batsmen to play the game; Imran and Hadlee two of its greatest bowlers. But Shakib's numbers, longevity and consistency make it hard to argue that there has been a better all-rounder -- the strictest definition of the term being that the player will have to justify a place as both a specialist batsman and a specialist bowler. Unlike many feted contemporary and past all-rounders, Shakib's split between batting and bowling ability is as close to 50-50 as it ever was in Test history.

Yesterday, the day Bangladesh won the first Test against West Indies in Chattogram, Shakib had Kieran Powell stumped to reach 200 wickets and achieve the historic double.

"Maybe it feels a bit [special]. When we win the match, I feel happier. If we lost, the questions would have been about the loss instead of the achievement. So the two are related," said Shakib, famously unimpressed by personal achievements, when asked after the match how it felt to be on the top of such an august list.

It may be considered coincidence, or by some as a divine construction of symmetry, that Shakib reached his 100th wicket against West Indies, exactly six years ago and at about the same time of day. It is no coincidence, however, that in another rarity for all-rounders, his run-scoring and wicket-taking has progressed at a parallel pace. When he took his 100th wicket Shakib had 1818 runs to his name. Six years on, he has 3727 runs at the time of his 200th wicket -- both numbers roughly doubled.

It is no coincidence; just the painstaking construction, brick by brick, wicket by run, of Bangladesh's first truly great Test career. 

Liton Das has been one of the more maligned junior national cricketers in Bangladesh, because the perception is that he was wasting his considerable talent with the bat. To watch him play a cover drive and to witness that extra fraction of a second that he has to play the ball is to realise that he could grow to be one of the better batsmen produced by the country. However, seeing him throw away countless good starts with bad shots tempered those expectations considerably.

In the just-concluded Asia Cup, he took up the poisoned chalice of being Tamim Iqbal's opening partner -- a position that no one has been able to make his own despite being given enough opportunities. He scored a 42-ball 43 against Afghanistan in their Super Four game on Sunday, but as seemed typical then, he squandered the start with a wild slog sweep.

In Friday's final against India, Liton moved past all of that with a 117-ball 121 and showed why he has been persisted with. He also proved that, when it comes to possible candidates for the position of Tamim's opening partner, he is the first among equals. If he does make the transition, the innings provided a glimpse into how devastating an opening pair of Tamim and Liton could be.

India's pace attack is a formidable one, and the fiery Jasprit Bumrah had been allowed to settle into his rhythm thus far in the tournament. Liton however displayed that quality that is the bedrock of all batsmen for whom aggression is the modus operandi -- he backed himself to go after the opposition's most feared bowler.

Bumrah bowls above 140 kmph, but Liton repeatedly stepped out to him and hammered boundaries. Bumrah ended his third over, after Liton advanced down the wicket and hit the fast bowler off mid on, having conceded 23 runs. That put the pressure on India's spinners who had thus far come on and benefited from the pacers' economy in their opening spells. Liton took care of that, hitting leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for big sixes, choosing his areas carefully.

But there was then the typical moment of madness when, just having completed his 50 off 33 deliveries, he went for a wild slog sweep off Kuldeep Yadav. This time, however, he survived as Chahal dropped the catch at mid on.

But what happened then was what will give fans the most hope. Liton saw skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's chest thump from the dressing room asking him to stay strong, and the youngster responded. He chose to play mostly along the ground, picking areas shrewdly for his boundaries. As wickets started falling at regular intervals at the other end, Liton did not throw it away but actually slowed down to complete his maiden century off 87 balls. He kept batting responsibly before a marginal stumping decision, off a defensive shot, ended arguably the innings of the tournament.

It is early days yet, but if Liton can keep mixing his penchant for dominance with thoughtful batting, it will be an auspicious development for Bangladesh cricket.

Even as everyone who witnessed the match were saying that beating Pakistan with the odds firmly stacked against Bangladesh was one of the country's better cricketing achievements, player-of-the-match Mushfiqur Rahim insisted that it was just another match for them. 

"It's just another game of cricket. It's nothing special to play against Pakistan or any team," said Musfiqur after the 37-run win in their Asia Cup match in Abu Dhabi. "I think Afghanistan are a great team and also Sri Lanka, although they lost both their matches and they were knocked out from the group stage. But I still think they are a dangerous team because in January they beat us in our backyard. 

"You can't take any team for granted. It was just another game and we treated it like that. All the guys were spirited because it was a great chance to get to the final and hopefully we can make it to number one and end up winning."

When reminded that Bangladesh were without the injured stalwarts Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal and still ended up winning against more-fancied opposition, Mushfiqur – who scored 99 in Bangladesh's 239 all out -- softened his stance a little.

"Of course, this is just one match. Overall, if you think about everything -- it was really hot, we lost three wickets -- and want to take credit for all those then yes, it's a special win," he continued with a smile. "But I think it is just like another match, For sure, the match was in their [Pakistan's] backyard and they know the conditions better than us. We all know how dangerous the Pakistan attack can be in these conditions because there is a bit of help for pace bowlers early on. So from that perspective it was an important win for us. 

"And as you said, two or three players from our best 11 cannot play because of injury, so from that perspective I would say that all of us had to take a little extra responsibility. So Alhamdulillah, it was good in every way."

Perhaps Mushfiqur was downplaying the importance because his eyes were set on something bigger – winning the final against India after having made the title match in two of the last three editions: losing against Pakistan in 2012 at home and against India in 2016, also at home. 

They play the final against on Friday India, the form team of the tournament, having won comfortably against every opposition – including Bangladesh by seven wickets – until they rested a host of their first-choice players against Afghanistan on Tuesday, a game that ended in a thrilling tie. 

"I think so, the confidence is there although I feel we haven't played to our best yet in the three departments," Mushfiqur said when asked if they have a chance against the top-ranked ODI side. "We have been struggling in the batting group in the top order. India are playing outstanding cricket in this tournament, but they are also human beings and they are bound to make mistakes. So I think if we can put up a good score on the board, we can probably pressure them. If we are chasing a good score, if we get a good start then hopefully we can pull it off. That's one thing we hope we can achieve in this tournament." 

Despite Bangladesh drawing their recent two-Test home series against Zimbabwe 1-1, many will have given the visitors the edge as they stayed competitive throughout the series while Bangladesh's batting failed abjectly in the first Test, and it remains the Tigers' biggest concern.

The home batsmen eventually managed to snap the streak of eight consecutive sub-200 scores in the second Test in Mirpur, where Mushfiqur Rahim struck a magnificent double hundred and Mominul Haque registered his sixth Test ton. Stand-in skipper Mahmudullah Riyad joined in with his second Test ton in the second innings.

Riding on these contributions, Bangladesh managed to avoid humiliation and won the second Test comprehensively by 218 runs to level the after the 151-run loss in Sylhet.

The upcoming series against the West Indies will be even tougher for the hosts and according to head coach Steve Rhodes, the hard-fought series against Zimbabwe would do a lot of good for Bangladesh against the Caribbean side.

"I think at Sylhet and Mirpur, Zimbabwe made us fight all the way. Some people might be a little bit surprised at the1-1 result and the hard-fought series. I think it will do us a lot of good going into a contest against the West Indies, who are obviously going to be tough opposition. We needed to go there with some tough games under our belt. Zimbabwe proved to be a tough opposition. I was very pleased with the Mirpur result but as you said, we wanted more than 1-1," Rhodes told reporters after the Tigers reached Chattogram yesterday.

Whether it is the team combination, the over-dependency on spin on home soil or even the top-order failures, there are a few areas of concerns for the Tigers as they prepare for a stronger opposition in the form of West Indies, who will have their tails up after a good outing in India in the ODI series.

"To be perfectly honest, we don't have many concerns. We are looking forward to the series against West Indies. They are excellent opposition, as we saw in June or July this year. Conditions are little bit different in Bangladesh, so hopefully we will have good games against them. They have got some injury problems with Jason Holder going home. We are without Tamim Iqbal; we wish him all the best to get back as quick as he could. It will be a good contest," he said.

Facing quality fast bowling has always been a vulnerability of Bangladesh batsmen and Rhodes said that the likes of Shannon Gabriel, who proved vicious against Bangladesh during their last tour earlier this year, would once again play a crucial role in the Test series.

However, he added that they were not worried about the opposition and were rather focusing on their own strengths.

The wicket at the Zahur Ahmed Stadium in Chattogram pitch has always been a batsman's paradise, but when it comes to gaining the advantage of home conditions the Bangladesh team management has not been able to utilise the luxury properly in recent times.

"I had a good look with the captain [Shakib Al Hasan] and curator [Zahid Reza]. What we are doing now is gather as much information as possible from the curator. We are lucky that Shakib has played here a lot. He knows the wickets well, more than I do. It is a learning curve for me. You get wickets right and wrong. I won't be saying how it's going to play," he said.

Shakib Al Hasan and Umme Ahmed Shishir welcomed a new member into their family, a baby boy, in Wisconsin, USA yesterday.

Shishir gave birth to the child at a hospital in Madison city around morning local time yesterday, it has been learnt. Both the mother and the child are fine.

Shakib-Shishir's eldest daughter, Alaina Hasan, was born in 2016. Their second daughter was born in April last year.

Shakib is currently in USA on paternity leave, skipping Bangladesh's ongoing tour of New Zealand. He will also skip the Test series in Sri Lanka next month due to his engagement in the Indian Premier League.