Shakib Al Hasan is a national hero in Bangladesh
Dubai - Shakib Al Hasan took 10 wickets and scored 84 runs in Bangladesh win over Australia
Published: Wed 30 Aug 2017, 7:05 PM
Updated: Wed 30 Aug 2017, 9:08 PM
Many years from now, the cricketing romantics will drool over a talented Bangladeshi player with rare talent to take wickets and score runs for fun.
Yes, Shakib Al Hasan has indeed done more than enough to be hailed as the first true great cricketer from Bangladesh.
So much so that the skillful left-arm spinner who could also dazzle with the bat has now become the world's top-ranked all-rounder.
Numbers don't lie. His 3568 runs from 50 Tests with five hundreds at 41.01 and 186 wickets with 17 five-fors, two 10-wicket match hauls at 32.09 are incredibly serious numbers - numbers that have put him on top of ICC all-rounders' ranking.
Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes are formidable players who have the advantage of playing for better Test teams that Bangladesh. And yet, it's Shakib who has now become the flag-bearer of modern all-rounders in cricket.
Shakib, a national hero in Bangladesh, was heroic once again in Dhaka as his second innings five-wicket haul gave his team their first ever Test victory over Australia on Wednesday.
In case if you have forgotten, Shakib also took five wickets in the Australian first innings. And when Bangladesh were in trouble in their own first innings at 10/3, it was Shakib who put to Australian bowlers to the sword with a magnificent 84, giving Bangladesh a crucial first innings lead.
"At home, we believe we can beat any side," Shakib told reporters after his man-of-the-match performance.
"We had that confidence and the belief came from the last two to three years. Not many have been watching us but we were quietly doing our job."
If you are Bangladesh fan, it will be impossible to forget the significance of Shakib's latest exploit. After all, he became only the second all-rounder in the history of the game to take 10 wickets and score a half-century in the same Test.
New Zealand icon Richard Hadlee was the only other player to have achieved this. Hadlee did that thrice.
Considering the kind of impact Shakib is making on the sport, he can even break Hadlee's record.
But even if he fails to do that, his position among the great all-rounders of the game has been secured.
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