Shakib surprises not to adjudge him for man of the tournament award
Image : Collected
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh iconic all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan revisited his memory lane of his fabulous 2019 ICC World Cup run, stating that he had brought changes in his mentality and wanted to reach at the top level to mark his potential in the extravaganza.
Shakib said that the measures he started taking from his IPL days before the World Cup helped him to be confident upon himself, which made him fearless and well prepared for the mega event.
He also said that he became astonished at not getting the Man of the Tournament award despite his blistering all-around campaign with bowl and bat on the stroke of the flagship event.
“The mentality, you know from December 2018, I was thinking that the three World Cup I played, I don’t think I performed to my potential and as long as I'm not performing to that level. Yes, they’ve said, yeah I played for Bangladesh, I did well for Bangladesh but you know to go to that level I need to show somewhere that I’m capable of competing with all the other great players, they have played or are playing at this moment. So, I realized that what can be the stage that I can perform and the people can think of, obviously, the World Cup. Then I said okay look, I need to do something,” said Shakib Al Hasan, who scored a total of 606 runs in eight matches only where he fetched up 11 wickets and made a rare instance in cricket history as the first cricketer to score 600 runs and picked 10 wickets in a single World Cup.
“But I didn’t start my preparation until I went to IPL. So, I went to IPL, I played I think the first game and then got dropped and then I realized there’s hardly any chance that coming to me this season, because all the four overseas players were performing brilliantly and I realize that I don’t have much of a space to play. After the first three games, I decided, okay I need to prepare for the World Cup. What I was thinking in December, I need to do it now. If I do it now, I have time but if I don’t do it now it’ll be too late,” he said in an interview session with Cricbuzz.
“Since then I changed completely, I did everything right that needs to be done to perform in the World Cup. Of course, there’re plans, there’s training, skill training, I talked to most of the computer analysts with all the teams, because I know most of them, because I play across all franchise tournaments. So, I talk to them which are the bowlers I’ll be facing, what is their mentality, what are the areas they can bowl or if you're my opponent what are the areas you will be telling your bowlers to bowl to me. These are the things, I took all the preparation. Even before the World Cup we went to Ireland for a month and I never thought that we'll be playing against West Indies and Ireland the four-five matches we played,” he further added.
Showing the gratitude to his family and IPL and local coaches, Shakib said that their presence gave him the boost to do better in the tournament and also spoke highly about his then Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody to give him the support to train under his childhood local coach Salahuddin during the IPL camp to prepare himself for the 2019 World Cup.
“This was my only thinking from the first game against South Africa to throughout the tournament. I think I prepared so well and I never think in that way before in my career ever. Even my parents went to England to see me that never happened in my career. Because we’re having a long tour, we stayed for 67 days, so more than two months. So, I knew that I’ll be fatigued, I will be homesick, something like that, my family was always there with me, my wife and my kids were always there with me. But having your parents there with you from the middle part to the end of the tournament was an extra boost for me,” the 33-year-old mercurial all-rounder said.
“This is the first time they went somewhere, they never came to the ground in Bangladesh, so that’s the first time they went. So that was all planned and I did all those planning while I was in IPL, doing my training, doing my planning all of that I did during IPL,” he said further.
“Big thanks would go to Tom Moody, I asked him, look I understand the situation, I understand that there will be less chances for me to be there for me than last year so, can I bring my coach from Bangladesh to do some extra training. Obviously I’m doing training with the team and the extra training I need and the coaching staff Hyderabad had fantastic coaching staff with VVS Laxman, Murali and Tom, they all are fantastic guys with them I said look this is the extra I think I need to do so I’ll be prepared better so when I get my chance so I need to make sure that I perform well for IPL and also I want to prepare myself for the World Cup,” Shakib added.
“Tom was very kind and he said ok, of course, bring him in and if you need anything from our side just let us know, so the thanks would go to Tom Moody and then I bring my coach [Salahuddin] and he was there with me for 14-15 days around two weeks. With him I do all the skill training but before that, I already did my fitness so, I was well fit at that time when I started my skill training. We did all the specific training we needed to do, we were talking with the computer analysis from Hyderabad and all the other computer analysis that I know,” he added further.
During the 2019 ICC tournament, Shakib made a flawless decision of putting himself to bat at number three, where he used to bat at number four-six to finish the matches. But he was adamant to bat at number three in the World Cup matches which was a challenging decision for him also.
“It was completely my decision to bat at three. The few times I batted at three I felt comfortable. I always felt that I need more time at the wicket then I can contribute more. Because I was batting at number four and five during 2007 to 2013-14 what used to happen we tend to lose one wicket two wickets quickly than another wicket during 15-20 overs and I had 30 overs to play with. Now we’ve been batting so well I tend to go at the 30-35 over so I don’t have much time. Then I realize I need to bat early to contribute more with the bat, so that’s the reason I batted early,” the south-paw all-rounder said.
“To be honest, I had a chat with AB de Villiers while he was playing BPL in Bangladesh and talking to him I said what do you think batting at number four-five finishing the game or batting at number three scoring hundred for your team and winning the game. We had a very conversation and that’s one point I thought okay, I’ll take this challenge because it’s challenging for me, because I hardly face new bowls and batted at number three. But this is the time I thought ok, this is the challenge I can take because I've been playing my entire career batting at number four-five-six I’ve done that. So, this is a new challenge I should take for my team and for myself. So, that’s when I decided ok I'll bat at number three,” Shakib added.
Despite his blistering performance in the World Cup where he named himself in a bunch of categories in the history book, Shakib was made the Player of the Tournament, which saddened him. To Shakib, it would have been a great achievement in his career. Though he also recalls his 2012 Asia Cup performance where he scored 237 runs while picking up six wickets in four matches and was named Man of the Series but still not being the Man of the Tournament after putting off a dream performance still haunts him. Yet still he considers the matter and applauds Kane Williamson’s contribution to his team to reach the final.
“Well, I wished for it, to be honest. Yeah, I think as an individual player that's the highest achievement you can get. I got man of the series once in 2012 Asia Cup. That was I think a huge achievement for me because all the big names of the other sub-continent teams were also there, like Mahela [Mahela Jayawardene], Sangakkara [Kumar Sangakkara], Sachin [Sachin Tendulkar], Sehwag [Virender Sehwag] all those players were playing at that time, Misbah [Misbah-ul-Haq], Younis Khan all those players were playing,” he pointed.
“Getting the man of the series award at that stage was a special moment for me but yeah it would have been nice if I would have got the Man of the Tournament in the World Cup. But that happens and I think Kane [Kane Williamson] deserve it. The way he handled his team and took them to the final was something I’ll cherish,” Shakib concluded.
