DHAKA, Dec 10, 2020 (BSS)—Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan’s grim times continued in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup as he couldn’t regain his form despite playing eight matches so far.
When it was expected that he would get back to the form slowly, he came up with his worst in his eighth match against Beximco Dhaka on Thursday, making it clear, his form continued to dip despite all efforts.
Shakib Al Hasan, who usually is not so serious in practice, came for an individual training session on Wednesday ahead of the game against Beximco Dhaka as his performance was not up to the mark.
He was seen practicing hard but it didn’t pay off in the original game as he returned a bowling figure of 3-0-36-0 and scored 8 runs. What was most embarrassing for him was that young opener Naim Sheikh took him in disdain, plundering 26 runs in his first over. Such was his bowling performance that he was not able to complete a full quota of four overs.
In his previous seven games in the tournament, Shakib though failed on every occasion to deliver with willow, he somehow managed to come up with economical bowling though couldn’t take wickets in abundance like he always did.
So far in eight matches, he scored 82 runs at an average of meager 10.25 and took eight wickets, for which he averaged 34.40. Even though his economy rate is 5.34, a praiseworthy effort, his performance in both batting and bowling is nowhere close to the standard set by himself.
In fact Shakib’s performance is responsible for Khulna’s last two defeats, including today’s defeat against Dhaka.
Shakib, who started playing competitive cricket with this tournament since his ICC-imposed ban was lifted, also knew he should hit the form especially when the series against West Indies is knocking at the door.
However he is not sure how quickly he would come back but he said he would give his best to regain the form.
“I don’t know how quickly I could comeback but I will try my best to regain the form and perform up to the mark,” Shakib said after the match.
Shakib indeed blamed their poor batting in the first powerplay for the reason behind their defeat at the hands of Beximco Dhaka.
Khulna lost two wickets including Shakib for 30 in first four overs in pursuit of Dhaka’s 179-7, which hurt their chance.
“We actually couldn’t play up to the mark. We should do well in the first powerplay which we couldn’t do. We lost too many wickets and couldn’t score runs as fast as we should do. Hopefully we’ll come back in the next match,” he said.
Despite the defeat in the last two matches, Khulna had already confirmed the playoffs. However the result of other matches will determine whether they could finish in top two.