Online desk : When there was lot of talk doing the rounds whether Shakib Al Hasan did not bowl enough in the one-off Test against Ireland, the man himself opened up on it after Bangladesh grabbed a seven-wicket victory on Friday.
He clarified that it is not necessary for him to bowl when he has the options in abundance at his disposal.
When asked to explain about the decision of not bowling enough, Shakib said: “I don’t have any explanation. Is it necessary to bowl more overs? When you have five or six different options, I don’t think it is necessary.”
Shakib came to bowl in 65th over during the first innings and delivered only three overs. Taijul claimed 5-58 to bowl Ireland out for 214 in the first innings.
In the second innings, Shakib opened the bowling and took wicket in his first over. He continued to bowl six overs and grabbed two wickets on day to leave Ireland 27-4.
However, on day three when many believed Bangladesh would wrap up the things in just one session, Shakib bolwed just three overs at a stretch in the beginning but did not come to bowl for a long time even though the Tigers were seemingly running out of ideas.
Lorcan Tucker who scored a century on debut for Ireland to lead the side’s survival on day three said they were happy that they didn’t face Shakib enough. And Bangladesh fast bowling coach Aland Donald also was unable to give any idea as to why Shakib didn’t bowl enough.
Asked whether he should have introduced himself in the second innings when Ireland were on top and appeared to take the game away, Shakib replied, “Does it mean the Bangladesh bowling attack is ineffective without me?”
He eventually bowled 13 overs in the second innings and did not get the chance to bowl at all on the fourth day. It mattered little as Ebadot Hossain worked through the Ireland batting line up to give Bangladesh chase only 138 runs to win the game.
Shakib said that he had faith in his bowlers to pick 20 wickets in a Test match.
“We’ve enough bowlers to pick 20 wickets and I have full faith in them. They have shown that especially in the type of pitch we don’t play often. It was a very good batting wicket in the first three days. Normally we don’t see a good batting surface in Mirpur in the first three days. It was a good track for batting on the fourth day as well,” Shakib added.
Shakib also said they had come up with an idea that they would do some experiments in this match. However, according to him, some plan worked and some didn’t but at the end they are happy with the result.
“There are a lot of areas where we can improve, this was a match where we could experiment with a few things. We tried to do that, some things came off and some things didn’t. I thought we were positive enough, and the wicket suited the way we wanted to bat. That’s one area where we are looking to change our approach, and that worked in the match. I wouldn’t say this was an ideal Test wicket, but it was a good batting track,” he said.
Mushfiqur Rahim who followed his 126 in the first innings with an unbeaten 51 was adjudged man of the match.
He also said Bangladesh bowlers fought well in the dead pitch.
“Throughout the Test match, it was important to show character, there was nothing in the deck for the bowlers, so they had to fight really. When you are playing on a deck like that, you need to start really well, the positive intent is really important,” Mushfiqur said.
“Tamim and Liton batted well upfront in the second innings, if Ireland took two or three early wickets, there could have been pressure on us. We want to be consistent in the longer format, the way the bowlers took 20 wickets on that pitch was incredible.”
