The best spell I've faced in my career - Shakib praises Umesh Yadav

Although Umesh Yadav could pick only two wickets yesterday, his fiery nine-over spell in the morning left everyone spellbound. He hit the deck hard, constantly clocked more than 135 Kmph and relentlessly bowled on the fourth-stump line. Umesh’s Kolkata Knight Riders teammate Shakib Al Hasan, who scored 82 runs for Bangladesh, hailed Umesh's skills saying he was lucky to survive his spell.

Shakib, in the post-match press conference, said, "Well, obviously he was bowling really well... [It was] probably the best spell I've faced in my career. The way he was moving the ball both ways was tremendous, all credit goes to him. I was thinking, I need to be positive at that time. If there is a ball to hit, I will obviously hit it and the rest I will play with soft hands, and make sure that I don’t nick it."

"There was nothing much on the pitch. Because we play at Kolkata Knight Riders, I know him very well. Probably this was the best spell I have faced in my Test career. The way he was moving the ball both ways, some balls were unplayable. I am lucky that I survived his spell."

Shakib

"There was nothing much on the pitch. Because we play at Kolkata Knight Riders, I know him very well. Probably this was the best spell I have faced in my Test career. The way he was moving the ball both ways, some balls were unplayable. I am lucky that I survived his spell."

Before getting out to Ravichandran Ashwin, Shakib, with a 109-run partnership with Mushfiqur Rahim, rescued Bangladesh from a precarious position of 110/4. In the process, he faced some brilliant bowling but eventually got out at 82 playing a needless shot to the hands of Umesh Yadav.

On being asked if he needs to work on his approach that cost him his wicket, Shakib was pretty straight-forward and said he won't be Shakib if he changes his usual style of play.

"I like to contribute to the team," Shakib said. "Obviously even I am not happy [when I get out], even if I've scored 217. I wanted to score more for the team. But I know that's not going to happen. Just for this, I am not going to change my style of play. If I change it, I don't think I will be Shakib. That's my way of thinking."

"Actually, I don't think about so many things when I go to bat," he said. "If I wouldn't have been out I would have scored a hundred and it would have been good if I could have batted for a longer period for my team.

" when I bat, I don't think about all these things [like milestones]. I keep batting. I like to play shots. Sometimes I am successful, sometimes I am not. I don't really think much about it because this is my natural game and I like to play this way. 

“If I had got out for 10, what would have happened? We would have been 140 for 5 rather than 240 for 5."