DHAKA, June 9, 2019 (BSS) – Shakib Al Hasan had to convince a lot of people to bat at No.3 position because the team management believed he should bat at No. 5 position to give the batting line up more flexibility.
But Shakib at No.3 is a huge revelation as far as the success rate is concerned as evidenced by the team’s performance. With the amount of talent he possessed, Shakib has the ability to play a duel role of being enforcer and holder, which made him outright successful in this position and subsequently made Tigers more potent.
In the 18 innings that Shakib Al Hasan played so far at No.3 position, he managed to pile up 831 runs with one century and eight half-century at a staggering average of 51.93. Bangladesh won 13 of them, a number unarguably looked quite overwhelming.
In the large part of his career, Shakib played at No. 5 position where he scored 3852 runs from 125 innings with five centuries and thirty half-centuries at an average of 35.33 runs.
The gulf of the difference between the average of No. 3 and No.5 how successful he is in his current batting position.
But still he has the fear of demoting from this position, mainly because of the flexibility in batting line up. But Shakib had already made a statement.
The ace all-rounder said that he is well aware that failing at No. 3 can prompt team management to demote him down the order but insisted it’s just the start of a new journey for him.
Shakib was the linchpin in Bangladesh’s innings during their 106-run loss to England with a superb 119 ball-121 runs knock, which was his eighth century. It went in vain but not before he makes a statement to make the place permanently for him.
Shakib first batted at No. 3 position in 2014 against Zimbabwe where he scored a duck while the second time he batted in the same position was in 2017, where he made 29 against South Africa.
He, however, put his hand up with two fantastic performances against West Indies in their own den to grab the spot in last July with two half-centuries in the three-match ODI series.
“It is different. You need to face some different challenges. But I’m enjoying at this moment, but having said that, you know, just the start, I need to contribute as much as I can with both bat and ball,” Shakib told reporters after the match.
”So I thought it’s a better opportunity for me, you know, to contribute more with the bat. So at this moment, I’m enjoying, but having said that, you know, there are plenty more matches in this tournament and after that,” he said.
Shakib has now passed 50 in all three matches of the tournament so far – and the promotion from number five to number three in the batting order is clearly paying dividends.
The all-rounder – who also opened the bowling here – admitted he had to convince everyone else in the squad he was worthy of the batting promotion.
”Yeah, [ I have to convince everyone]. Because if I don’t score runs in a single match, they think he should be batting at No. 5; he’s better down at 5. You know, I had to convince a lot of people to bat at No. 3, but it’s working at this moment,” he concluded