In the days leading up to the ICC World Cup 2023, Shakib Al Hasan – in a now infamous interview – said that if someone was not full fit and still playing, they were cheating with the team.
Since then, the all-rounder has revealed that retinal issues affected his game during the tournament, and by the way things have been going, his batting is clearly suffering from those issues as the batter not only looks lost in the middle but is also causing the team trouble after trouble.
Since the start of 2023, Shakib has played 15 T20Is, scoring just 208 runs with a strike rate of 117.51. Among those 15, he managed to score beyond 30 only thrice, one of them coming in their series-deciding defeat to USA, where he got out on 30 off 23 balls when the team needed 21 off 18 balls.
His batting in this World Cup has been, to say the least, horrendous.
Against Sri Lanka, he played 14 balls for eight runs when the asking rate was just above four, and when Bangladesh needed someone to calmly guide them to victory, the veteran played an upper cut despite third man being on the boundary – a careless case of lack of game sense – to get caught, resulting in a nervy finish.
When he was sent in at number four on Monday – to both tackle Keshav Maharaj and also protect Towhid Hridoy – Shakib once again showed a critical awareness deficit when he tried to hook Anrich Nortje despite the New York pitch’s uneven bounce being a key discussion point in the lead-up to the match to lose his wicket.
Replays suggested that if Shakib tried to play his shot from the Sri Lanka game against Nortje instead of trying to play square – something that has proved to be difficult in New York – then he would have had a better chance of scoring and surviving, which could have in turn helped the team.
However, Shakib and the team management has been in denial of the all-rounder’s struggles due to his medical condition and part of it was because that he was still one of Bangladesh’s best bowlers.
That, though, no longer seems to be the case, especially in the build-up to and in this T20 World Cup.
On his return to T20Is after almost a year in the fourth T20I against Zimbabwe, the 37-year-old picked up four wickets and defended 14 in the final over to get the Tigers a five-run win.
In the six matches since, Shakib did not complete his quota of four overs four times. In the three-match series against USA, he looked ineffective, giving away 74 runs in his 10 overs for just a solitary wicket.
He was the most expensive bowler in the Sri Lanka game – giving away 30 runs in three overs – and then against the Proteas, skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto gave him just one over.
While that decision might be narrowed down to Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller’s ability against left-arm spin, it also delivered a momentum shift in Bangladesh cricket – that Shakib the bowler is not an undisputed necessity anymore.
That, though, was evident from other evidence. Shakib has missed nine of Bangladesh’s 16 T20Is since December 2023 – three each against New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe. Bangladesh won five out of those nine matches.
He misses games on his own accord and returns on a whim when he wishes – like when he did for the second Test against Sri Lanka earlier this year, despite taking a leave from the whole series before it began.
When Shakib Al Hasan is searched on google, the line below his name reads ‘Member of Jatiya Sangsad’ instead of cricketer, and his performances in recent times puts the question in place of whether he is in the team for his legacy as Bangladesh’s greatest-ever cricketer, rather than current form.
This year, he has just 69 runs with a strike rate of 94.52, and just six wickets – two excluding the four against Zimbabwe – in seven games.
Shakib being Shakib, it is not impossible that he turns things around in the coming matches, something he has done in the past.
That, though, seems unlikely with how things have gone recently, and with grandfather time now running into the territory of no return.
If Shakib can turn it around, then Bangladesh will be able to bring balance back into their XI, in both departments. And if he wishes to fulfill his hopes of playing another World Cup, then he must find some form, either with bat or ball, or possibly both.
If not, then the questions will return. How long is too long for Bangladesh to keep backing Shakib based on his legacy? How long is too long for Bangladesh to keep carrying him without tangible numbers on the board?
How long is too long before Bangladesh finally dare to drop him?