On a record-breaking day for Shakib Al Hasan and Bangladesh at Basin Reserve, the batsman has revealed he was motivated by hearing his achievements announced over the public address system.
Shakib scored the highest number of runs by a Bangladesh player in a Test innings, his 217 surpassing Tamim Iqbal's 206 against Pakistan in 2015 and making him just the third player from his country to score a double-hundred in the longest format.
>Read: Shakib double ton helps Bangladesh take command
That contributed to the creation of a new milestone stand for Bangladesh in Tests, with the 359-run partnership of Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim (159) now leading the way. It was also the first time four of Bangladesh's top six scored 50 or more runs – Tamim and Mominul Haque also made half-centuries – and Shakib enjoyed being kept up to date while at the crease.
"It was great to hear about all the records we were breaking [on the PA system]. It inspired us to make the partnership bigger," said Shakib. "I thought Tamim's score was 214 not 206; when I ran that single, I saw Tamim was clapping and I thought, 'oh, this is the highest score'."
Mushfiqur relishes batting alongside Shakib and was impressed by how well his team-mate dealt with the situation - Bangladesh reaching stumps at 542 for 7. "I never thought he was too troubled during his innings. He coped with everything and survived everything," Mushfiqur said.
"But there is no emotion. He didn't even want to raise his bat and it didn't seem like he was scoring a hundred or 200. I love to bat with him. He doesn't talk too much, just gives little hints and that helps me all the time. There were a couple of hiccups in our running between the wickets today, but that can happen. We did well for our nation."
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