Is Shakib becoming a liability?

Moments after his dismissal to South Africa’s Anrich Nortje, the camera panned towards a dejected Shakib Al Hasan. The short ball, once his friend, had betrayed him again. 

Of late, he has got out to short deliveries so many times that his exploits against this length in the 2019 Cricket World Cup feel like a distant memory.

Shakib’s dismissal against the Proteas on Monday was his third dismissal in a row against short bowling during the ongoing tour of the United States. 

Against Sri Lanka, he was done by a Matheesha Pathirana short ball and a week before that, Jasprit Bumrah got him out bowling a well-directed bumper in the official warm-up match.

Before the ongoing T20 World Cup, Shakib and Bangladesh’s previous major assignment was the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India where they failed horrendously. 

Although Shakib finished the tournament with a Player of the Match performance against Sri Lanka, it was an event to forget for the Bangladesh veteran.

Shakib averaged only 18.33 in that World Cup, the least by any captain, and a major reason behind this was his struggles against the short ball.

Shakib was dismissed by the short ball five times in the 2023 World Cup but four years ago, he was invincible. 

In the 2019 World Cup, Shakib scored 160 off 156 short balls without getting dismissed. In his famous 124 not out against the West Indies in a record chase, Shakib scored 67 off 43 short deliveries and a few days before that, the southpaw scored 72 off 70 such balls against a pacy England.

Once Bangladesh’s best player of the short ball, opponents have been able to bounce him out and the short ball ploy has worked invariably against Shakib lately.

“Shakib’s tendency to ride the bounce with hard hands coupled with an awkward swivel pull is mostly what has been causing his undoing lately,” noted Indian cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar during the World Cup last year.

This, coupled with the eye issue he has been dealing with for a while, has been ailing Shakib’s stroke-play big time against pace. He has not been able to pull or cut, his go-to shot in the past, convincingly. 

His T20I batting numbers since 2023 are not up to the mark. In 14 innings during this period, Shakib has scored 208 runs with a strike-rate of just 117. More than the numbers, the time and mode of dismissals have been questionable. 

He walked out to the middle at crucial junctures against both Sri Lanka and South Africa in the T20 World Cup. Shakib couldn’t meet the demands of the required run rate and got out when the team needed him to deliver. In both the innings, he never looked settled. Against pace this year, he averages only 7.5 in five outings.

His bowling, all of a sudden, is on a downward spiral. This year in seven matches, Shakib has taken six wickets at an economy rate of 7.1. 

These are by no means bad numbers but if we scratch beneath the surface, we will see that his economy rate was well above the opponent’s scoring rate in five of the seven matches. In four of the last five matches, he went wicketless. He could not complete his quota against South Africa either.

Shakib is generally a steady performer and his form both with the bat and the ball has been shockingly poor. His eye issue has been at the center of attention.

“Recently Shakib has been struggling with short ball after his eye problem. I think this is something that he really needs to work on and see how he wants to take his game to the future,” Shakib’s long-time teammate Tamim Iqbal told ESPNCricinfo after the match.

But former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag went on to say that underperforming Shakib doesn’t deserve a place in the XI.

“I had realised in the last World Cup that his time is up in T20Is,” Sehwag remarked. “He should be ashamed and say that I want to retire from this format.”

Dropping Shakib will be a bit far-fetched but given his dwindling reflexes with the bat and diminished returns with the ball, one feels the end is near.

With very little room for error in the T20 World Cup for the Tigers, selecting this version of the country’s premier all-rounder and greatest cricketer could prove costly.