Bangladesh is a team that’s known for being a formidable opponent in many matches. They have many great players and among them is their current captain Shakib Al Hasan. The question is, who exactly is Shakib Al Hasan?
Here are some basic things to know about the cricket player:
Born on March 24, 1987 in Magura, Jessore
Role: All-rounder
Batting Style: Left-Handed Bat
Bowling Style: Slow Left arm Orthodox
Shakib Al Hasan is a player who made a huge name for himself in Bangladesh cricket circles. However, there was a time when Hasan did not want to be a cricket player. He even started late and only held a proper cricket ball when he was around 14-15.
How It Started
When he was younger, Shakib had played taped-tennis ball cricket in Magura and would sometimes go into the villages with local kids to play matches on hire. It was during one of these matches that Hasan got noticed by Saddam Hossain, an umpire from his district. The umpire had asked Hasan to come to the trial of his club team, Islampur Para which played in the Magura League. When they saw his bowling skills, Hasan was immediately picked for the club.
The first time Hasan made a delivery with a real cricket ball was when he was selected to play for Islampur. Before he made his official debut, Hasan trained for six months at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP), a state sports institute.’
Shakib Al Hasan’s Debut
It was only when Hasan started touring and getting success that he saw potential in playing cricket professionally. He first made his debut in the U17(Under-17) Cup in 2003.
In 2004 Hasan was selected to play for Khulna in the National Domestic League. The next year, he played his first U19(Under-19) game against India in the Afro-Asia U19 Cup.
Shakib made his First Class Cricket debut in the match between Bangladesh Cricket Board President’s XI and Zimbabweans in January 2005. Before he made his international debut, he played in several leagues and competitions.
In July 2010, he joined Worcestershire and played in the second tier of the County Championship. Because of this, he became the first Bangladeshi to represent a county team.
Shakib Al Hasan Made Captain
In 2012, the Bangladesh Cricket Board established the Bangladesh Premier League, and Shakib was assigned as captain of the Khulna Royal Bengals. This was the first time he was made captain of a team, and he led the team to the semi-finals of the competition. They ended up defeated by Dhaka Gladiators.
For the 6th BPL in 2018-2019, Shakib was drafted into the Dhaka Dynamites team squad. During the game against Comilla Victorians, he became the first player in BPL history to take 100 wickets. In the same tournament, Shakib Al Hasan took the wicket of Anamul Haque of Comilla Victorians in the final of the tournament in Mirpur. Shakib Al Hasan became the highest wicket-taker in a single BPL season.
International Career Debut
Hasan started his international career with his debut in the One Day International (ODI) against Zimbabwe on 6 August 2006 at Harare Sports Club. So far, Shakib has played 214 games and scored 6,323 runs with a top score of 134 runs.
He also has 9 centuries and 47 half-centuries to his name, and his batting average are 37.86 per innings. Shakib also has 260 wickets in 206 games, with the best bowling number of 5/29. At present, he is the number 1 ranked all-rounder in ODI cricket.
Shakib made his T20 and T20I debut against Zimbabwe in November 2006. His first T20 & T20I wicket was from Sean Williams and since then, has taken the most wickets in T20 World Cups.
Shakib Al Hasan’s Achievements
Throughout his career, the ICC has awarded Hasan Best Player across multiple formats including Test, One-Day, and T-20. He was also ranked the 90th most famous athlete in the world by ESPN.
Aside from his local and international accomplishments, Shakib was a 3 times Asia Cup runner-up with Bangladesh and won bronze with Bangladesh in the 2014 Asian Games.