Unsung star Shakib has scores to settle

SHAKIB AL HASAN is taking part in his fourth World Cup — enough time, you would think, for the penny to drop. While England are proud of their all-rounders, they all have some catching up to do. Barely an email from the ICC arrives in which Shakib, 32, is not near the top of the oneday all-rounder rankings. He is currently No 1, five places ahead of Chris Woakes, six above Ben Stokes and miles ahead of Moeen Ali. As Steve Rhodes, the Bangladesh coach and former England wicketkeeper, said: ‘That’s where we think Shakib belongs.’ Yet possibly because of his nationality, or because he is a left-arm spinner, Shakib slips beneath the radar. If he can quietly put in another gamechanging stint in today’s match at Cardiff, he won’t complain. Shakib has nearly 6,000 ODI runs at an average of 36, and more than 250 wickets at a fraction under 30. He walks into the Bangladesh side, and probably would England’s. But he also provides an edgy self-belief, not always a feature of Bangladeshi cricket. He once got into trouble for pointing at his crotch, then the camera, in a one-day game against Sri Lanka, and in 2014 was banned for six months for what the president of the Bangladesh board called ‘a severe attitude problem’. In England’s fractious one-day series in Bangladesh in 2016, Shakib was at the heart of things, refusing to doff his cap as Asian sides once did before their region became cricket’s spiritual home. When his team lined up for their official World Cup squad photo in Dhaka recently, Shakib had already left the ground. England, it seems, do not have a monopoly on free-spirited all-rounders. They have, though, played well against him down the years. In ODIs, his averages against them are just 23 with the bat, 42 with the ball. But he has already had an impact on this World Cup, scoring 75 in victory over South Africa and 64 in defeat by New Zealand, while taking three wickets. He may bowl the first over against Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow, following successful ploys by two leg-spinners, South Africa’s Imran Tahir and Pakistan’s Shadab Khan. Ignored in the IPL by Sunrisers Hyderabad, he used his downtime to shed six kilos, announcing: ‘I’ll keep my end of the bargain, the rest is up to Allah and my effort.’ In his spare time, he runs a restaurant in Dhaka which has been known to provide the press box lunches. If he can reproduce the spice in Cardiff today, England will know they are in a fight.