Shakib Al Hasan Creates History, Becomes First Bangladesh Bowler To Take 300 ODI Wickets
New Delhi: Shakib Al Hasan created history for Bangladesh as he became the first Bangladeshi bowler to claim 300 ODI wickets in the 3rd ODI against England played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram on Monday, March 6 2023. Having won the toss, Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal decided to bat first. The hosts were in trouble after losing both their openers early but Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim stitched together a 98-run stand to put Bangladesh back on track. Soon after Shanto was dismissed, Shakib joined Mushfiqur and took matters into his own hands by taking his team close to the 250-run mark before getting dismissed for a quick-fire 75 off 71 balls.
Bangladesh were eventually bowled out for 246 with an over to spare. In reply, England looked like favourites to win the third ODI as the openers got them to a good start. Shakib was once again among the thick of things as he broke the 54-run opening stand between Philip Salt and Jason Roy as England found themselves in a spot of bother soon after.
James Vince and Sam Curran tried to rebuild the innings after England lost Roy and Dawid Malan in quick succession but the visitors continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, thanks to some great bowling by Shakib, who was ably supported by Taijul Islam and Ebadot Hossain – both of whom picked up a couple of wickets each.
Shakib returned with figures of 4 for 35 as England were bowled out for 196 in 43.1 overs. The visitors, however, won the series 2-1 after having won the first two ODIs of the three-match series.
“We desperately wanted to win this game but still delighted to win the series. We were happy with the score but Bangladesh fought back hard,” said England captain Jos Buttler at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Shakib was adjudged the Player of the Match for his brilliant all-round show with the bat and ball.
“We’ve been very good at home in the last 5-7 years. Unfortunately we lost this series but I think we showed a lot of character today so we can take credit from it. We thought we were 20-30 runs short, the situation we were in, we could have scored more. Our bowlers spoke about stepping up and getting the job done. Luckily they did the job for us today. We expect our top order players to score 100s and not 50s so I guess that’s an area we can improve on,” said the 35-year-old after his match-winning performance.