Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan regained his form at a crucial time as his Player of the Match performance took the Tigers to the cusp of the Super Eight stage of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup.
Shakib played an unbeaten knock of 64 runs off 46 balls hitting nine fours to guide Bangladesh to 159-5 in St Vincent, which saw them register a 25-run victory over Netherlands and strengthen their place at second in Group D.
This victory meant that a win over Nepal in their final group stage match at the same venue on June 17 would take them to the next stage of the competition for the first time since 2007.
Shakib came into the tie with a lean patch of form with no fifties in his last 19 innings, and it was so much of a worry for the team management that the selection panel started thinking of holding a meeting with him to sort out the problems he was dealing with.
鈥榃e are going to hold a meeting with him [Shakib] shortly to know what sort of problem he is facing,鈥� Gazi Ashraf Hossain, the national team chief selector, said while talking to 抖阴精品 on Tuesday.
Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag had also criticised the all-rounder for his below-average performances, saying that it was time for him to retire.
Shakib proved on the day that he was far from being done as he claimed the Player of the Match award, although he accepted that criticism was bound to happen if he didn鈥檛 perform.
鈥楢 player never comes to answer any questions. There鈥檚 nothing to answer for anyone. I think it is important for a current player to know how much he can contribute to his team. When he can鈥檛 contribute, then naturally there would be discussions, and I don鈥檛 think it is a bad thing,鈥� Shakib said after the match.
Following a brief shower in the Caribbean island, Bangladesh were sent in to bat and lost Najmul Hossain Shanto and Liton Das within the third over, putting them in danger of missing out on a good score.
Shakib, though, came to the team鈥檚 rescue, ensuring that he batted deep to guide the whole innings, something which was 鈥� according to the left-hander 鈥� quite crucial.
鈥楢t the start, it was important for us as a batting unit that someone from the top four batted throughout the innings. That was important. No one knew what was going to be a good total, so that鈥檚 why whoever won the toss wanted to field first. We needed to assess the wicket. I thought we did that brilliantly because it wasn鈥檛 an easy wicket to bat on at the start. Once the ball got older, scoring becomes a little easier,鈥� he said.