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Taijul Islam reminded everyone that the most important thing is his performance, not some tag to his name, as he equalled Shakib Al Hasan’s tally of the most Test wickets for Bangladesh during their second Test against Ireland at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Friday. 

Taijul, often tagged ‘underrated’ due to the trajectory of his career, which was mostly overshadowed by Shakib Al Hasan, took a four-for to become the joint highest wicket taker of Bangladesh with 246. 

Taijul took 246 wickets while playing in his 57th match. Shakib, on the other hand, has 246 wickets from 71 matches. 

‘I will always measure myself with the performance. I always say this—performance is the main thing as long as you play. The underrated thing comes around in the media, but I think this should not happen,’ Taijul said after the third day’s play. 

The left-arm spinner also said that every individual’s contribution is important for the team. 

‘You have to perform to play for the national team. Shakib bhai has given many things to the Bangladesh team; he was world number one from Bangladesh too. No one can go to the top without doing anything. Of course he had that quality,’ said Taijul. 

Taijul also reminded everyone that the performance would decide his future trajectory. 

‘It’s difficult to say what will happen after two years. But when you play, the performance will decide how long you can go. To me, maintaining a process and keeping performing is important,’ he said. 

‘So I will focus on the performance. If I can perform, then I will be able to be in a good position,’ he added. 

Taijul praised Shakib for helping them out at the start of their careers. 

He said, ‘When you become a senior player, one of your jobs will be to motivate the junior players and share your experience with them. This helps the juniors so much. We got that from Shakib bhai, and now we’re passing it to others.’ 

‘If the bonding is not good among the players, the team won’t be stable,’ he added. 

Taijul, who has been spearheading the spin-bowling department of Bangladesh for quite some time now, said that he’d have to make his own name. 

‘My name will pop up if I can perform. And to me, that is the main thing, whether I am performing or not. When I stop performing, then it will stop. I won’t be able to carry further too,’ he said.