Agency :
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Selector Hannan Sarkar opined that Shakib Al Hasan does not care about any kind of criticism and will be playing as long as he can perform for the team.
Shakib was bombarded with criticism by the former Indian batter Virender Sehwag after consecutive poor performances in the tournament. Sehwag slammed Shakib and suggested him to retire from the T20s. However, he came up strong against critics and showcased his true talent.
“I had realised during the last World Cup that his time was up. He should be ashamed and retire from T20Is,” Sehwag said after the South Africa game.
Shakib rejuvenated his form by registering his first half-century in the T20I format since 2022. He scored a blistering 64 off 46 deliveries against the Netherlands to keep Bangladesh’s hope alive reaching the Super-8. Bangladesh defeated Netherlands by 25 runs and Shakib Al Hasan was adjudged the Man of the Match for his terrific innings.
Sent into bat first, Bangladesh piled up a satisfactory total of 159 for the loss of five wickets in the stipulated 20 overs and then restricted Netherlands to 134 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.
After such a comeback, the BCB Selector Hannan praised Shakib’s excellence and said he didn’t expect such a remark from the Indian veteran and drew a comparison with Virat Kohli’s poor run in the ongoing tournament.
“As a Bangladeshi, I was deeply hurt when I heard his comments. Take Virat Kohli for example, he could not score runs in three matches, can you comment on Virat in such a way? Regardless of which country the player is. You should not comment about Shakib Al Hasan, who has maintained the top rank year after year. You can’t judge a player like that and make such a big comment,” said Hannan in a live session with Cricfrenzy.
“Not only Sehwag, Shakib does not pay attention to anybody’s comments. He will keep playing until he feels it’s the right time to stop. When he thinks, he needs to retire he definitely will do so,” he added.