The 2018 Indian Premier League has been going well for Shakib Al Hasan. The best all-rounder in the world has taken five wickets from three games in the tournament and has scored 39 runs from two innings thus far.

Such has been his impact that he is the third most economical bowler, that has bowled in 10 or more overs, of the IPL thus far. With an economy rate of 6.50 from three games, only Shreyas Gopal (6.30) and Shakib’s team-mate Rashid Khan (5.58) have better economy rates than the Bangladeshi star.

It is for this reason that the Test and T20I captain of Bangladesh is highly-rated by the players in the cricket fraternity. James Faulkner seems to be one of them as the left-handed bowling all-rounder stated that he is not surprised to see him do well in this IPL because of the skill that he possesses.   

"Yeah definitely [his form helps the team], he [Shakib Al Hasan] has been one of the best players in the world as an all-rounder for a long time now. It is not surprising that he is doing well in this IPL,” Faulkner opined on ESPNCricinfo’s Run Order.

Meanwhile, speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra heaped praise on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowling unit due to the presence of Shakib and co.

"Sunrisers Hyderabad have the best bowling unit in the tournament. Shakib [Al Hasan], Rashid [Khan], Billy Stanlake, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddharth Kaul... there are these five, but apart from them they also have Yusuf Pathan and Deepak Hooda. So they have a very strong bowling attack.”

On the other hand, Simon Doull opined to Cricbuzz that the match against Kings XI Punjab will be a test for the Sunrisers’ bowlers due to the presence of explosive batsmen in the batting line-up.

In Shaun Tait’s words at ESPNCricinfo’s Run Order, it will be a clash between the most explosive batting line-up of the Kings XI Punjab and the most explosive bowling unit of the Sunrisers.