Shakib Al Hasan has picked up 6 wickets against Zimbabwe yesterday, the first day of the three match series, at his favourite hunting ground, Mirpur. This is the 11th incidence of picking up 5 or more wickets for the talisman. Zimbabwe is the eighth opponent against whom he performed this feat.
Australia is the only team that has managed to evade the paw of this ace all-rounder – they are yet to face him in the Test arena.
Shakib Al Hasan made his debut on May 18, 2007 in Chittagong against India and was initially slated as a left-handed middle order batsman who could bowl a bit.
But a spell of bowling, by a man who was wicket-less not only in his debut match but also in his first four Test innings of bowling, mesmerized New Zealand at Mirpur on October 17, 2008.
The left-hander who had bagged just 3 wickets in the previous 8 innings he bowled, lifted 7 wickets for just 36, recording the best ever bowling performance of a Bangladeshi to date.
In the same year on November 19, he bagged his second five-wicket haul at Blomfontein in South Africa, picking up 5 for 130. He gave an even better performance at a Test Match at Centurion against the same opponents that commenced exactly a week after the previous one, bagging 6 for 99.
His fourth five-for came at his favourite ground Mirpur at the Boxing Day Test Match, where he picked up 5 for 70 against Sri Lanka.
Amidst these performances, he was probably most satisfied with his game during a Test Match against the West Indies that started on July 17, 2009. He bagged five for 70 in his only five-wicket haul in a second innings, making this the only occasion on which his five-for helped the side to victory. He was the captain of the side and that historical match sealed the first ever Test series win away from home for the Tigers.
A Graph of Shakib's Test Bowling performance ( courtesy: www.howstat.com)
Shakib's only home five-for other than Dhaka took place at Chittagong in a match against India that began on January 17, 2010. He picked up 5/62 against a star-studded Indian side with the likes of Dravid, Laxman, Shehwag, Yuvraj and maestro, Sachin Tendulkar, in the batting line-up.
Arguably the best all-rounder in the current cricket circuit, Shakib Al Hasan bagged a five-wicket haul against “Father of the cricket” England, on their home soil, at Manchester on June 4, 2010. He took five British scalps for 121.
His eighth five-wicket haul and seventh opponent were Pakistan, in a match that commenced on Bangladesh Victory Day 2011. Although his side lost the match, he was by far the best performer of the match with a valiant 144 and a venerable bowling figure of 6/82.
Shakib also took a five-for against the West Indies at Mirpur on October 29, 2010 and another against New Zealand on October 21, 2013.
Till the first day of the current Test Match against Zimbabwe, his 34th, the all-rounder has picked up 122 wickets with an average of 33.39.