'Only aim is to win'

It would be fair to say that the local players have so far dominated the Bangladesh Premier League since a glance at the list would show that the top-seven run-getters are all from Bangladesh. The wickets column is not too different either with Shafiul Islam and Mohammad Shahid on top of the table.

However, the one surprise is the absence of Shakib Al Hasan at the higher ends of both of these lists. Considered the country's best Twenty20 player, Shakib is currently ranked 22nd with the bat and 17th with the ball, having accumulated 134 runs and six wickets.

For a person who has regularly done well in Bangladesh -- he was the player of the tournament in the first two editions -- this is an unfamiliar position for him.

However, the left-hander does not mind the current state at all and that is because he is not targeting the player of the tournament award this time.

“I can't see any cars on the field. What's the point of winning the man of the series?” he joked when asked about his performance following his game at Mirpur yesterday.

“Honestly, personal targets don't seem that important after a point. What is important is what you can do for your team. We still have a chance to win the trophy and personally I just have one target, to reach the final and then win if possible. And for that, just being a good team isn't good enough. You need luck as well. That is my ultimate target this time. Other than that I don't have any expectations.

“The important thing is to perform whenever my team needs me to. I did that today. But that won't happen every day. We have very good players in our team. If we all can put up good performances it will be very difficult to beat us. We are very strong.

“Khulna is doing well, but I still think Chittagong is the best team in the BPL, especially with the foreigners they have. Rangpur's spin attack is good. I think this time the BPL is very competitive,” he explained.

When asked if he remembers to have gone through such a lean patch in T20s before, Shakib defended himself. “If you judge performances just based on runs and wickets then it won't be right. You have to see how many balls I faced batting at my position or how I bowled.

“Whether I will get a wicket or not depends on luck. Nobody can tell you that they are going to get one or two wickets today. I feel that apart from the last game against Rajshahi, I bowled well overall. Yes, I haven't got the amount of wickets that everyone expects from me, but I don't have any expectations from myself this time. I just hope that the team does well,” said Shakib.

On a different note, Shakib shared his experience of leading a star-studded squad that includes the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jaywardene and Dwayne Bravo.

“Many times it's easy, many times it's difficult. When everyone gives you an idea, it becomes a bit confusing. And at the same time, when you don't have an idea, they come up with brilliant ideas.

“Obviously it's a great experience playing with the likes of Kumar and Mahela. I think they have been captains for eight years at least so there's a lot to learn from them.