Traits of a professional

It was a Shakib Al Hasan day. A smile was glued to his face throughout the practice session; it did not evaporate even when he took part in a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur as questions ranging from his upcoming 50th Test; old memories; regrets or lack thereof about playing only a small number of matches over 10 years; Bangladesh's chances of winning both Tests against Australia; the possibilities of another unique celebration like the salute when he dismissed Ben Stokes; the strength of Bangladesh's spin attack, were all greeted by that smile.

Shakib ended this animated press meet with an announcement: "You are all invited; I will be very pleased if you take the trouble to come." While departing the media room, the ace all-rounder also promised that it will only take 10 to 15 minutes to complete the opening ceremony of his new business ventures -- Shakib's Convention Center at Mirpur-1 and All Rounder Catering Service. He also promised a delicious lunch.

He kept his promise as the programme was completed quickly in the presence of a few teammates in Taijul Islam, Soumya Sarker, Rubel Hossain, Subhasish Roy, Mominul Haque, his business partner Imrul Kayes and Tamim Iqbal.

It however took more than an hour for the reporters to leave the function but nobody had a problem with that as Shakib fascinated everybody while having lunch with his guests and bared his soul, ranging from the trivial problems in daily life to future mega business ventures, cracking jokes like: "It's not too easy to please you people (after asking the journalists about the quality of the food)."  

He became a bit emotional when sharing some anecdotes about his BKSP student life, like the fun times he spent with friends near a bridge at night. 

The demeanour of Shakib -- known as a restrained individual in public -- was that of a transformed man. Even if it was because he was observing his duties as a businessman, nobody minded as the transformation was also evident in his press conference.  

And that is why, when asked to compare the times gone by with the present ahead of the 50th Test, Shakib said: "When I played my first match there was no thought about how many matches and how long I will play; then it was all in fun. I won't say that everything has changed from then, but now the atmosphere is different; most importantly my responsibilities have increased."

The familiar Shakib emerged when he said: "I have hardly any regrets in life. And my lack of Test matches is no exception; the main thing is how much I could perform."

Shakib was however excited as he was going to play his first Test against Australia after spending 10 years in Test cricket. "It's always exciting to play Test cricket against a country like Australia."

The most satisfying fact was that once other countries had laughed at the Tigers when it came to Test cricket, but now they were staring at the possibility of defeat. "It's most satisfying and it showed how much progress we made and I would like to thank our administration, support staff, all the coaches, ball boys, fans and even you people. The love we have for cricket over here, I don't think even in India they follow the game like that. So, cricket comes before everything else in Bangladesh right now."

Reminded of the strength of Australia to cope with any condition, the all-rounder wished that Australia will continue their recent subcontinent form -- they have lost series in India and Sri Lanka over the past year -- in the two-match series but served a warning by saying that the home spin attack is better than the visitors'.

"I think our spin attack is better than theirs; not in all conditions but on our own turf. Taijul and [Mehedi Hasan] Miraz have been doing well and I believe they will do something special in this series," he said, adding that it's the Tigers' winning mindset that has changed their fortunes in Test cricket.  

In the end, yesterday was not about what he said but how he said it. It was not as if the mystery surrounding Shakib's character was solved; instead the light of true professionalism just shone a bit brighter on the best all-rounder in the world, throwing some light on what makes him special.