It has been a dream World Cup 2019 for Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. He is currently the highest runscorer of the tournament with 476 runs, which include two hundreds and three fifties; became the first Bangladesh cricketer to cross 1,000-run mark in World Cups. On Monday, Shakib became the second cricketer after Yuvraj Singh to score a half-century and scalp a five-fer in a World Cup match as Bangladesh beat Afghanistan at Southampton by 62 runs.
Shakib, who played a knock of 51 runs and took five for 29, was unwilling to rate his performance, but expressed satisfaction for contributing across departments.
“I don’t rank my performance at all, but it is very satisfying when I'm contributing both ball and bat. It gives me more satisfaction rather than contributing in one sector,” Shakib said.
Shakib was happy that his team was able to score more runs than expected on a pitch that was not ideal for batting as Bangladesh posted 262/7 in 50 overs.
“Our target was actually to bat for 50 overs and get more than 240. I thought it was a good thinking because we wanted to bat the overs, and if we get some more runs, that is something we'll take it as a bonus. I think we got 20-25 runs more than what we were expecting. So that gave us enough aid to go out there and bowl Afghanistan out. ” the 32-year old revealed.
"We knew that it's not an easy wicket, so we needed to make sure we put them under pressure with dot balls, and that's exactly what we have done,” he added.
Bangladesh, currently fifth in the table with three wins, three losses and a washed out game, needs to win its remaining two matches against India and Pakistan to stay on course for a semifinal berth.
Shakib is wary of the threat India poses at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
“We have to play our best cricket in order to beat India. They’ve got world class players who can take the matters on their own hand. We have to be at our best, and I believe that we are a capable enough team,” Shakib said.
The all-rounder is hopeful of Bangladesh making it to the final-four despite a difficult road ahead.
“England has got three more matches, and they need to win one. We have two more matches, and we have to win two. So it’s difficult mathematically, but having said that, in cricket anything can happen,” said Shakib, who is featuring in his fourth World Cup.
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