Shakib’s exile a boon for Bangladesh’s revamp
Only once in a blue moon does an underachieving team get a boon in the form of a player who outperforms an entire setup, an eventuality that fell on Bangladesh when Shakib Al Hasan entered into the arena. What Bangladesh are going to do without him is not an imposition but one for the future.
Bangladesh’s ODI and T20I captain, Shakib Al Hasan has been banned for a year from cricket by the International Cricket Council. He made a blunder by not informing the officials about multiple bookie approaches since 2016. The response to this incident by fans, to put in one word, was nothing but ‘heartbreaking’. But at all the ruckus about Shakib’s ban despite the fact that such corruption bans keep occurring from time to time speaks volumes about the emotional standpoint of the fans of the nation. And the support that Shakib is receiving from the board, as attested by their Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, makes it clear that the door will be open for him when his ban ends.
And why not, Shakib was exceptional in the World Cup with 606 runs scored at an average of 86.57 and was the team’s third-highest wicket-taker with 11 wickets. He not only topped the leaderboard in terms of runs for Bangladesh but was also third on the list after Rohit Sharma and David Warner. However, despite his tremendous efforts the team only managed to win three out of eight matches. So no glories for the team.
This is a classic case of a team enjoying the advantage of having a player who outclasses everyone else inside the set-up turns out to be a bane and Bangladesh haven’t come out of it yet. But now is the time for them to learn major lessons. The first lesson has to be the fact that a team cannot be dependent on one player for the sheer logic of it being a team and glories don’t come to one person’s credit, but to all members.
However difficult it might seem for Bangladesh to move on from Shakib for the meantime, it actually something they have done before. This time it’s only going to be an elongated period that Shakib’s going to be away. And now is the time for the established players to stand up, with an out of form Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim taking charge as players. A glimpse of which we witnessed in the first T20I against India. Taking charge, Rahim scored an unbeaten 43-ball 60, helping the visitors beat India by seven wickets.
Again, as it’s said earlier, that Bangladesh have done this before. If we look at Rahim’s numbers, they go significantly up in Tests and T20Is when Shakib is away. Since Shakib’s debut, in August 2006, Rahim has played 14 T20I matches in the absence of the all-rounder and has amassed 395 runs averaging 65.83 as opposed to his overall average of 20.67. And in Tests, his average in 13 innings is 46.50 as opposed his aggregate of 34.73 overall. This is only an example of what the team is capable of doing coming out of the shadows of their greatest-ever player. This paves the way for a much-needed revamp.
Let’s take an example of a team that has faced the exile of their best cricketer. What Shakib is to Bangladesh, Steve Smith is to Australia. In one word, irreplaceable. Last year Cricket Australia banned two of their best batsmen for a year- Steve Smith and David Warner- as a reaction to their sheer disapproval of the ball-tampering incident executed by the players. Aussie fans came together to support the decision made by the board, over and above ICC’s punishment, even though that meant a huge setback for the team.
The difference between the reactions by fans of Bangladesh and Australia is what shows us the importance of Shakib in the team, or let’s just say the impact on Bangladesh, trumps the greatness of someone like Steve Smith.
But the key for Bangladesh here is not to embark on the same journey as is going to be different from what Australia had without Smith. Bangladesh need to revamp instead of making way for ‘their Smith’ to be back in the setup. There are two major reasons for that, Smith has more years left than Shakib and that Australia have a much better bowling attack than them. So they never really had to struggle in that department, wherein Shakib contributed majorly for his team.
Hence, for Bangladesh to remain standing, the youngsters need to be in a more role-specified setup. A setup that can define what Bangladesh cricket is going to be like in a few years. With talents like Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mustafizur Rahman and Mehidy Hasan, who have years ahead of them, Bangladesh can actually look forward to making that happen. After all, it’s something that had to be done at some point since Shakib is not going to play forever.
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