MANCHESTER: This has not been a World Cup of the underdogs. From teams like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, West Indies, some showed promised without being able to sustain it. Some of them were just disappointing for the most part. None really came close in the race to finish in the top four.
If one leaves aside team performance and takes into account individuals, then there is no doubt that one of the players of the 12th edition has been from one of these teams. Shakib Al Hasan was a standout and consistent performer with bat and ball and deservingly set a record for the best all-round performance in the history of the competition. Against top teams or also rans, there was no dip in reliability and the left-hander’s statistics tell the tale.
His indomitable run did little to revive his team’s fortunes. Underachievers and underdogs, Bangladesh retain those tags after yet another chapter of the game’s showpiece event. There were expectations after they reached the quarterfinals ahead of England in the last edition in 2015. That despite Shakib they failed to give the bigger teams a bigger scare is something they have to address. When they go back and look back how lionhearted the performance of their former captain was, it could hurt more.
“I should talk about Shakib. He has been absolutely beautiful. Batted at three, did what he could do. The tournament that he had, he deserved to be in the semifinals. I really feel sorry for him. I think it was one of the best performances, not just in this World Cup, but in all editions. It is disappointing that a player who played like that is not in the semifinals,” captain Mashrafe Mortaza was quoted as saying after one of the matches.
Numbers are not always an accurate indicator of achievements, but in Shakib’s case they are worth a look for the factor of consistency. Scores of 75, 64, 121, 124 not out, 41, 51, 66, 64 to go with 11 wickets including a five-wicket haul. Not often does such a run coincide with just three wins for his team, but that is something Shakib and Bangladesh have to live with.
“Everything clicked at the right time. I did work really hard leading up to the World Cup. For a month and half I worked hard at the gym and did a lot of running. That helped. I feel lighter and fitter. That’s perhaps one of the reasons of my success. The start was important and that century against South Africa gave me confidence. After that I didn’t look back. I wanted to enjoy this tournament,” Shakib said in an interview with the ICC.
It’s important for his team to see if other players can take a leaf out of Shakib’s book and transform potential into performance. Bangladesh are not newcomers to the world stage any longer. They have been playing in the World Cup from the 1999 edition. Passion for the game among the public, incentives for players, foreign support staff --- they have most of the things teams need to make a bigger mark. That they produced a player like Shakib without posing a bigger threat to the more established teams is a matter of pride as well as a reason for introspection.