‘It’s just unbelievable from Shakib’- Abdur Razzak
12:00 AM, June 27, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:34 AM, June 27, 2019

The Expert Opinion

‘It’s just unbelievable from Shakib’

It's amazing what Shakib Al Hasan is doing, it's just unbelievable batting.

Shakib has improved a lot because he was dropped in the Indian Premier League and had to practise really hard.

Importantly, he knew what needed to improve - and he did it.

As well as being a fantastic all-rounder, Shakib also has the potential to be one of the best batsmen in the world.

When he started, he was a batting all-rounder, but after that he steadily started to improve his bowling as well.

His partnership with Mushfiqur Rahim has been particularly strong in this ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.

A good understanding is really important when building partnerships, and they've been playing for such a long time together that they now know each other inside-out.

Both are fighters, mentally strong and also smart cricketers too. It's a partnership that works well.

It was obviously a wonderful performance by the team against Afghanistan, but especially Shakib.

The boys want to play in the semifinals and to do that there is no other option than to win games like this.

Watching the game, and indeed other matches in the competition, it's clear to see some similarities between this Afghanistan team and Bangladesh when they were starting out.

Like us, their strong point is spin, while the level of performance is also similar to Bangladesh from the past.

Everyone was saying before the game that Afghanistan had superior bowlers to us, but I didn't particularly agree.

In truth, I was expecting a performance like this from the Bangladeshi spinners. Everyone knows that if the pitch is turning, Shakib and Mehidy are dangerous, and so it proved.

Bangladesh play Asian rivals India and Pakistan next, but I have to say no cricketer thinks about facing their neighbours in any different way to normal; they're just another opponent.

India have been a very good in the World Cup so far and came into the competition as one of the favourites.

Everyone is talking about them, but that creates an opportunity for our players. I'm sure they'll be up for the challenge.

Bangladesh can definitely take some lessons from Afghanistan's performance against India where they ran them close, but everyone has different ways of playing.

On that day, Afghanistan's bowling and fielding was amazing, but if we bat well and focus on our strengths, we can do well too.

It depends on the wicket and the situation on the day but you have to play what is in front of you.

India's batting line-up is so strong that Bangladesh will have to be at their very best with the ball if they want to stand a chance of winning.

That said, I believe they can do it.

The team is playing really well at this moment. I still think that it will be very difficult to qualify for the semi-finals, but they've created a great chance for themselves.

 

This story originally appeared on ICC.


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