Impactful Sakib needs to carry on
It was an easy presumption to put Bangladesh's bowling as their main weapon ahead of the T20 World Cup, especially since the batters have provided very little to be excited about in recent times.
But, very few could have predicted Tanzim Hasan Sakib to be the Tigers' lead pacer in this tournament -- he is currently occupying the joint-second spot in the top wicket-takers' list alongside New Zealand's Trent Boult, Windies' Akeal Hosein, and South Africa's Anrich Nortje with nine wickets in four games.
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However, what sets Sakib apart from the rest is the impact he has had with the new ball -- the 21-year-old has been the most impactful bowler in the tournament so far, with a bowling impact of 251.54 according to ESPNcricinfo.
Be it through words or his actions, Sakib has not made a secret of how he wants to operate in this tournament.
"I just want to be aggressive and execute my plans," Sakib had said after the Nepal win -- a game in which the right-arm quick was rewarded with the player of the match award for his career-best figures of four for seven and was also levied a 15 percent fine for code of conduct violation, relating to the confrontation he had with Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel during a fiery opening spell.
Interestingly, the inclusion of Sakib, who has now turned into one of the main heroes behind the Tigers' progression to Super Eight, was the major talking point following the T20 World Cup squad announcement. He was left out of the main 15 in the initial squad submitted to ICC, but a bold call from the Gazi Ashraf Hossain-led selection panel saw him make the cut ahead of Mohammad Saifuddin.
And even though he has not been majorly used in the death overs -- a phase where the selectors had predicted Sakib to be much more effective than Saifuddin -- the youngster rose to the task of accepting the challenge of bowling with the new ball, something he has not done very often in white-ball cricket.
Generally, a skiddy customer for his slightly slingy action, Sakib has made use of the slow and turning surfaces in the Caribbean and the USA during this World Cup. The way he had two of the Nepal batters caught at point, and castled Quinton de Kock after trapping South Africa opener Reeza Hendricks in front of his stumps showed how his skiddy deliveries, getting slightly lower-than-usual bounce off the surface, can be a lethal weapon for the Tigers throughout the tournament.
Sakib was made to bowl four overs at a stretch against Nepal, and he ended up bowling 21 dots -- the highest number of dots in a T20 World Cup game till that point -- while giving away just one extra to give Bangladesh exactly the type of start they desperately needed in a game where they had to defend a paltry 106-run total.
What augurs well for Bangladesh is that Sakib is not having to do it all on his own -- with Mustafizur Rahman doing his job of bowling miserly at the death while also taking crucial wickets, Taskin Ahmed living up to his reputation, and young leggie Rishad Hossain setting the stage alight with his turn and control. And Bangladesh will hope for it to be the case for the remainder of the tournament, starting with the encounter against title contenders Australia in Antigua tomorrow.
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