Cardiff: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan says he is relishing his promotion to number three in the batting order, having scored half centuries in his last four ODIs.
Shakib has now passed 50 in all three matches of the World Cup so far – and the promotion from number five to number three in the batting order is clearly paying dividends.
The all-rounder, who also opened the bowling against England here Saturday, admits he had to convince everyone else in the squad he was worthy of the batting promotion.
“Yeah, (I needed to convince) everyone. Because if I don’t score runs in a single match, they would think he should be batting at number five he’s better down there. It is different. You need to face some different challenges,” he said.
“But I’m enjoying at this moment, but having said that, it’s just the start, I need to contribute as much as I can with both bat and ball,” said Shakib whose 121 against went in vain as Bangladesh lost by 106 runs.
Shakib is in fine form with the bat but he knows it is with the ball that Bangladesh came unstuck against England who amassed 386.
“We are disappointed with the result, and the manner we actually bowled. I thought we bowled really, really well against South Africa and against New Zealand,” he said.
“We were expecting a better bowling performance in this match. But obviously England played brilliantly. Credit goes to their batsmen. The way their openers started, and the way (Jos) Buttler finished the innings was the turning point of the match I think,” he added.
With the bat, the twin threats of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood gave Shakib a proper examination.
“They are quick. It was a difficult challenge, but I enjoyed it. Obviously they are the two quickest bowlers in this World Cup, so I knew that it’s going to be tough, but I felt very happy with the way I played them,” he added.
PTI