INTERVIEW
Follow UsShakib Al Hasan, the Test batter, has hit a rut of late. From 2022 onwards, the left-hander averaged 29 with the bat in Test cricket, with only five half-centuries in 21 innings. In the ongoing season, Bangladesh has played four Tests, winning in Pakistan and losing convincingly in India. But what's remained a constant throughout is Shakib's underwhelming returns, with just 104 runs across seven innings, averaging 17.3.
However, only a few would question Shakib’s talisman-like contribution to Bangladesh cricket. Having made his Test debut in 2007, he has the most wickets in Bangladesh’s Test history (246), second-most Test caps (71) and third-most runs (4609). He is one among the seven Test all-rounders with a double of 4000 runs and 200 wickets. In other formats also, Shakib put Bangladesh on the world map with his consistent performances for a Bangladeshi side which was still finding its feet as an international cricket team.
The sun is about to set on Shakib’s career. The 37-year-old has already stated that he has played his final T20I match for Bangladesh in the 2024 T20 World Cup. The recently concluded Kanpur Test against India might have been his last, given his inclusion for the two home Tests against South Africa is subjected to the security arrangements in Bangladesh. At the time of writing this, he is only active in ODI cricket, with the Champions Trophy as his target.
Abdur Razzak, the former left-arm spinner and Bangladesh's current selector (since 2021), called Shakib “a rare cricketer” and admitted that replacing him might not be as easy a task as people would assume it to be.
“It (Shakib’s international career) is a beautiful career. I am also a big fan of him. Whenever he is coming to bat, he is a proper batter, and whenever he comes to bowl, he’s like a frontline bowler. He is a big privilege for the team, the captains, the coaches and the selectors,” Razzak, currently in India playing the second season of Legends League Cricket, said in an exclusive chat with Cricket.com.
Razzak played exactly 200 international matches for Bangladesh, with more than 150 of them (11 Tests, 113 ODIs and 28 T20Is) coming alongside Shakib as a teammate in the XI. There are not too many who can quite sum up his career as Razzak would.
“Shakib has been a top all-rounder for the last 15 years. If someone wants to replicate that, he will need some time. There is a possibility, but a player like him is rare in the world, so I cannot say someone can replace him easily,” Razzak added on the possibilities of Bangladesh finding a replacement for the veteran all-rounder.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz is the only other established all-rounder in Bangladesh cricket at the moment, having played 47 Tests alongside more than 120 white-ball internationals. Although he currently averages only 22.5 with the bat in Test cricket, his batting has been on an upward curve. The right-handed off-spin bowling all-rounder currently averages 42.1 in Test cricket since 2023.
Razzak sees Miraz as a potential replacement for Shakib, drawing parallels between the two all-rounders. “Mehidy is similar to Shakib Al Hasan. He is a key player and a solid all-rounder. If you include his fielding as well, he is a very good player,” Razzak told on being asked about Miraz’s rise.
In December 2022, he scored a match-changing 112*, batting at number eight in the second ODI against India. Razzak now sees the possibility of Miraz batting up and taking the number five or six spot soon.
“I will be really happy to see him batting up. He can bat easily at number five and six. I am sure the team management will think like that. I think he will come up [in the batting order]. It is not his place right now, but he has shown us [he can bat a 5 or 6],” he answered.
Bangladesh have recently started to do well overseas also, clinching their first Test series win in Pakistan, beating them 2-0. However, in the follow-up series, against India in India, they were blanked 0-2. While Razzak credited the brewing seam bowlers in the country, he reckons winning overseas is a process that will take time to come to fruition.
“It is a long-term process [winning regularly everywhere]. You cannot pick a team today and expect the players to win against Test-playing nations tomorrow. It is a difficult ask but it is a process we have already started. Bangladesh cricket as a whole is improving.
"In my opinion, the fast bowlers play a very vital role. We were lacking in the fast-bowling department but at the moment, we have resolved that problem,” Razzak mentioned.
But does the boost in the pace-bowling sector mean Bangladesh are moving away from their spin-bowling culture? Not really. A national selector for three years, Razzak mentioned that the likes of Rakibul Hasan, Tanvir Islam and Nasum Ahmed can take that culture forward.
Razzak is one of the few Bangladeshi players to have played in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The left-arm spinner featured for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the inaugural edition in 2008 under the leadership of Rahul Dravid. Coincidentally, Dravid was India’s skipper on the dreaded day in Trinidad when Bangladesh trumped India in a World Cup fixture in 2007, which later resulted in India’s early ouster from the tournament.
Recalling this World Cup and IPL memories, Razzak was full of praises for the former Indian skipper.
“I really respect him as a cricket player. Whenever I meet him, and I still speak to him, the way he speaks, the way he motivates players, it is very encouraging,” Razzak said on playing with Dravid.
Does Razzak remember the three wickets he took that day in Trinidad in his bowling figures of 3/28?
“Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh,” he was quick to respond.
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