‘There is nothing to answer to anyone’: Shakib on Sehwag’s scathing comments

Bangladesh's premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan said he did not have anything to say in response to former India opener Virender Sehwag, who had asked Shakib to "feel ashamed of his performances" and "retire from the format". 

Following a barrage of criticism for underperforming in the first two matches of this ongoing T20 World Cup, Shakib returned to form with the bat in Bangladesh's crucial 25-run win over the Netherlands at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown on Thursday. 

Shakib scored an unbeaten 46-ball 64 to help Bangladesh set a competitive 160-run target before bowlers did their job to restrict the Dutch to 134 for eight as Bangladesh inched closer to making it into the Super Eight. 

With Shakib managing just eight and three runs against Sri Lanka and South Africa in Bangladesh's first two group games, respectively, a number of experts, including Sehwag, called him out for his underwhelming performance. Shakib was also limited to bowling just a solitary over against South Africa after conceding about 10 runs an over in the previous encounter against the Lankans. 

"You are such an experienced player, you have been captain before, but your stats are such. You should feel ashamed of yourself and just declare that you are retiring from the T20 format," Sehwag had said in a Cricbuzz show on Monday after Bangladesh's agonising four-run defeat against the Proteas.   

Shakib, however, made it clear that he had no clue what Sehwag or anyone else said about him. When the topic was broached by a reporter at the press briefing following the Netherlands game, Shakib asked "who" had made that comment before calmly replying that it is not a player's job to answer critics with words. 

"A player never comes [gets onto the field] to answer anyone else," Shakib said. 

"A player's task is to bat if he is a batter, contribute to the team, bowl well if he is a bowler as getting wickets sometimes also depends on luck, and if he is a fielder then to save runs and take the catches that come his way," he added.  

Shakib also mentioned that it is not unreasonable for someone to criticise or question a player's performance and contribution to the team.  

"There is nothing to answer to anyone.  I think when a current player is not being able to contribute to the team as much as is expected of him then it usually invites a lot of questions, and I don't think it is a very bad thing," Shakib said.