|| CF Correspondent ||

Bangladesh banned all-rounder Shakib al Hasan said that AB de Villiers played a big part behind taking the decision to bat at number three in the World Cup.

Shakib was in superlative form with the bat throughout the tournament making 606 runs to have his name alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Mathew Hayden and Rohit Sharma, as the only players to have scored over 600 runs in a single edition of the tournament. He also picked up 11 wickets along with his two centuries and five half-centuries in the eight matches that he played in. In recent times former ODI skipper Mashrafee bin Mortaza admitted during a live session with Tamim Iqbal that whole team was against promoting him at the top of the batting order in the World Cup but he was convinced as he knew Shakib would take the challenge.

Shakib added that South African AB de Villiers inspired him to bat at number three in the World Cup adding that it was a difficult decision considering everyone was against it.

‘’I was talking to De Villiers during the BPL before the World Cup. It was just a normal conversation. He told me on that at time he thinks he has always batted late. If he had batted at number three then he could have contributed more to the team and scored more runs. Thinking about the team, he always had to play at four, five, six. His theory was to play in the middle order and score 70-80, which sometimes gives the advantage to the team and sometimes it doesn't work. But if he play on three, then he could have scored 100-120 and might have won for the team. No need to take pressure later,’’ said Shakib

‘’I thought I would take the helm after the fallen of two-three wickets and take the team forward. Things were like that in his case too. He was saying at that time, that if he could play on number three then he could have scored big runs, which would ease the pressure of the next batsmen. There are two ways to think, I will not say which is right and which is wrong. Both are right or both are wrong. The point is, when you make a decision, your intentions are the most important. Not taking for good, not for bad. If you take it for good and everyone believes it, the thing will go right even if it is wrong. But if you make the right decision without thinking well, it will be wrong if no one believes. Things are like that,’’ he said.