Former Bangladesh captain Sakib al Hasan completes the parachute drill during a training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday. Being the number one all-rounder once again in the ICC one-day ranking is a motivation former Bangladesh skipper Shakib al Hasan would like to use to turn the heat on West Indies in the second Test beginning on Saturday.
Shakib returned to the summit this week after a little more than six months thanks to his impressive showings in the preceding one-day series with bat and ball. He was the top all-rounder for more than 115 weeks from January 2009 to April 2011 before being displaced by Australia’s Shane Watson.
‘It does motivate me,’ Sakib told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday. ‘From a personal point of view it is important and does play a role to motivate me,’ said Sakib.
‘I am not sure whether it will play any part or not [in my Test form). But it can work as an inspiration. I won’t say it will, but it can. This is good news and it can help encourage me to play well,’ he added.
Sakib stressed that Bangladesh must improve in all areas if they are to beat West Indies in Dhaka despite having a psychological advantage after ruling to roost in Chittagong.
‘We should try to improve our batting, bowling and fielding. In Chittagong, we batted well but no-one got a big score, so I hope that everyone would try to achieve that. If someone makes a big score it helps us put a healthy total,’ said Sakib.
‘We bowled well in the first innings which we want to carry on. We did not perform well as a fielding unit where there are lots of areas to improve,’ said Sakib.
The number one one-day all-rounder and premier spinner of the country urged his team-mates not to put too much emphasis on the Sher-e-Bangla wicket which often disheartened them.
Bangladesh were hoping to put West Indies in a spin in the one-day series but were left cursing the wicket in the first two ODIs in Dhaka which turned flat and conducive to batting.
West Indies took full advantage to seal the series in Dhaka with two massive wins before they finally got what they were apprehending since coming on the tour in Chittagong.
Bangladesh dismissed them for 61 runs in Chittagong in a stunning reversal of their fortune in the World Cup when they were dismissed by the same side for 58 runs in Dhaka.
The entire Bangladesh team are now looking for a wicket similar to the one in Chittagong to be offered in Dhaka, which Sakib said sometimes can be deceiving for them.
‘Naturally wicket will play a part and more so because we are playing in our home condition. But I think it would not be wise to think a lot about the wicket as it is not in our hands,’ said Sakib.
‘Though we expect to have some advantages if that is not the case we cannot be sitting idle. We had worked hard we should have faith in ourselves and in our skills,’ said Sakib.
Sakib was happy to have Elias Sunny as his bowling partner and he hoped him to reduce some of his workload.
‘It feels nice. He bowled a lot of wicket-taking deliveries which was good to see. Personally for me it was good because I had to bowl a lot less,’ Sakib said.
On a stunning debut Sunny claimed seven wickets for 128 runs which gave the second best start in a Test career for any Bangladeshi bowler after Mahmudullah, who claimed 8-110 against West Indies in 2009. ‘I just hope it will be good as it will create a healthy competition,’ said Sakib.
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