Bangladeshi cricketer Shakib
Al Hasan has lost his top position to West Indies captain Jason Holder in the ICC
Rankings for the Test All-Rounders 2019. Among all three formats, Shakib Al
Hasan maintained his dominance in the ICC Test all-rounder rankings.
Following
his all-round performance in the recently concluded first Test match against England
at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Jason Holder has risen to the top position of
the Test all-rounders’ rankings with 440 rating points. He scored an unbeaten
double century and claimed two wickets, and because of his effort, the home team
could beat the England cricket team by 381 runs. He has become the first
Caribbean player after Sir Garry Sobers to achieve the number one spot in the
ICC Test all-rounder rankings. He has also become the third player to score a
Test double-hundred batting at No. 8 or lower.
Jason
Holder is followed by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, India’s Ravindra Jadeja,
England’s Ben Stokes and South Africa’s Vernon Philander respectively in the
second, third, fourth and fifth positions with 415, 387, 344 and 341 points
accordingly.
The year 2018 was not good for Shakib Al Hasan. He
sustained finger injury, which forced him to stay outside of the field for a
long time. For this reason, he has lost his throne to other players and is now
taking the second position in the all-rounder
rankings of the Test, ODI and T20 formats. As a supporter of Bangladesh
cricket team, I hope that he will regain his lost dominance in all three
positions very soon.
Mustafizur Rahman has perhaps
become the first Bangladeshi cricketer to make his place among the top five
players in the latest ICC ODI bowlers’ rankings. His good performance in the
recently concluded three-match ODI series against West Indies has helped him to
move five places up to fifth position with 695 rating points, his career best
rank in ODIs ever. The southpaw, who claimed five wickets in three matches, is
followed by Jasprit Bumrah (India), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Kuldeep Yadav
(India) and Kagiso Rabada (South Africa).
Off-spinner
Mehedi Hasan Miraz has jumped 19 places to reach his career best ODI ranking of
28th after bagging six wickets against the Caribbean team. Bangladesh’s ODI
captain Mashrafe Bin Mortazahas climbed 10 places up to 23rd. He also took the
same number of wickets and along with Miraz shared the spot as the highest
wicket taker in the series, which Bangladesh won 2-1 at home. However,
all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is ranked 26th in the ODI bowlers’ rankings.
Now,
let us look at the position of the Bangladeshi batsmen in the ICC player
rankings for ODI batsmen. The wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim is enjoying
his career-best 15th spot in the list with 712 rating points. Left-handed
opening batsman Soumya Sarkar is ranked 42nd while his right-handed opening
pair Liton Das is positioned 98th after rising four places.
Mustafizur Rahman became
the only cricketer from Bangladesh to make his inclusion in the ICC ODI Team of
the Year announced on January 22 (Tuesday). His good performance in the last
year helped him to get this prestigious place. Playing 18 ODI matches, he took
29 wickets at an average of 21.72, with the best bowling figure of four for 43
against Pakistan in Asia Cup. He played an important role to beat Pakistan and
take his team to the final of the tournament where their opponent team was
India.
Mustafizur
Rahman along with Rashid Khan of Afghanistan and India’s Kuldeep Yadav
jointly became the highest wicket taker in the 2018 Asia Cup. The left-arm
pacer claimed 10 wickets at an average of 18.50. Because of his performance in
the recently concluded ODI series against West Indies, the lanky bowler became
the fifth best bowler in the ICC ODI bowlers’ rankings,
his career-best rank in ODIs so far.
The
ICC ODI Team of the Year is dominated by the players of India and England as
both countries have four players each. The remaining three players have been
picked up from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand. Indian cricketer Virat Kohli
was named as the captain of the team. However, players from Australia, South
Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies could not make their place in the
squad.
ICC ODI Team of the Year 2018:Rohit Sharma (India), Jonny Bairstow (England), Virat Kohli
(India) (capt), Joe Root (England), Ross Taylor (New Zealand), Jos
Buttler (England) (wk), Ben Stokes (England), Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh),
Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Kuldeep Yadav(India), Jasprit Bumrah (India).
Cricket
is a game of record. There are many records in this game. Every day many new
records are being created. Old records are being broken and replaced by new
ones. Some records have been created as a team effort while the others have been
made as individual performance. Of these, hitting six sixes in a single over is
perhaps the most difficult one. This trend has been set by Sir Garfield Sobers
and till now, it has been carried forward by a selected number of cricketers.
Sir
Garfield Sobers:
West Indies all-rounder, Sir Garfield
Sobers,
was the first cricketer to do this impossible task in the history of the
cricket game. On August 31, 1968, the Caribbean hard-hitter astonished the
cricket world by hitting six successive sixes in an over bowled by Malcolm Nash
who despite being a genuine pace bowler tried his arm at spin bowling. The
bowler had to pay the price for his wrong choice of bowling action.
This
record took place in a first-class county cricket match where Garry Sobers led
Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at St. Helen’s in Swansea. Of these six
sixes, five were massive while the sixth one was caught by Roger Davis, but it
was unfortunately carried over the boundary rope. Scoring 36 runs in the same
over, he broke the record for the most runs, 34, in a single over, a record
held by Ted Alletson for 57 years.
Ravi
Shastri:
This trend pioneered by Sir Garry Sobers could
have been achieved by very few cricketers till now. Of them, Indian
all-rounder, Ravi
Shastri,
became the second player to include his name in this elite club 16 years after
the West Indian legend set this record. On January 10, 1985, he made this
record while playing for Bombay against Baroda in Ranji Trophy. He smashed six
deliveries for gigantic sixes off the left-arm spinner, Tilak Raj. In the same
match, he scored a 123-ball double century that required him only 113 minutes,
which became the fastest ever double century in first-class cricket history.
Despite his brilliant performance, the match finished without any result.
Herschelle
Gibbs:
South African opening batsman, Herschelle
Gibbs,
became the third cricketer to repeat this history, but his one deserves more
appreciation because he achieved this feat in international cricket, unlike the
previous two players who did this in domestic cricket. On March 16, 2007, he
equaled the record after bludgeoning the Dutch leg-spinner Daan van Bunge
hitting for maximum on all six deliveries in an over in a match between South
Africa and the Netherlands at the 2007 World Cup at St. Kitts in Basseterre. He
remains the only batsman to hit six sixes off an over in ODI cricket format. He
dispatched sixes around the park.
Yuvraj
Singh:
Indian all-rounder, Yuvraj Singh, entered his name in the record book with his
aggressive display of batting against England. He achieved this feat in a match
at the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa. The unlucky bowler was Stuart Broad.
The flamboyant cricketer sent all balls off an over cleanly outside of the
boundary. Before this performance, he had a heated argument with Andrew
Flintoff and that might prompt him to punish the English pace bowler Stuart
Broad. The interesting thing is that when Yuvraj was in action at the field,
Ravi Shastri was on the microphone to call the action, and who could be better
than him who has done the same thing 22 years ago. He played some brilliant
innings that helped India win the trophy that year.
Ross
Whiteley:
English all-rounder, Ross
Whiteley,
became the second cricketer in the T20 format and the fifth overall to
reproduce this record. On July 23, 2017, he took 37 runs, including six over
boundaries and one wide, off Karl Carver in a match between Worcestershire
Rapids and Yorkshire Vikings at Headingley. Despite his heroic effort, his club
Worcestershire Rapids could not win the match in the T20 Blast.
Hazratullah
Zazai:
Afghanistan's left-handed batsman, Hazratullah
Zazai,
included his name on the record book as the sixth cricketer to hit six sixes in
the same over. On October 14, 2018, he reached the feat in the inaugural
edition of the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) while playing for Kabul Zwanan
against Balkh Legends. He smashed six sixes off Abdullah Mazari. He also became
the third player to share this record with Yuvraj Singh and Ross Whiteley in
T20 cricket format. Despite scoring 62 runs off 17 balls, his franchise could
not win the match.
Kieron
Pollard:
The Caribbean all-rounder, Kieron Pollard, added his name to the record book by hitting
six consecutive sixes in an over against Akila Dananjaya of Sri Lanka. On March
3, 2021, he earned this feat in the first of the three-match T20I series
against Sri Lanka at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. After Herschelle
Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh, he became the third cricketer to hit six sixes in an
over in international cricket.
Naeem
Islam:
Very few cricket lovers are aware of his
achievement. Even his name cannot be found in any record list. It might be
because he is a Bangladeshi player and he made this record in a domestic
cricket match. On November 13, 2009, Naeem Islam struck six sixes while batting for Gazi Tanks
against Mohammedan at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in a Dhaka Premier
League match. The bowler was Marshall Ayub who gave 36 runs in the
49th over of the innings. Till now, no Bangladeshi player could touch this
record either in domestic or international cricket.
This
record list might be extended by many more players in the years to come. Let’s
see who can be a part of this record.
Though he was born on March 27, 1947, he became Tiger Jalil in 1982. On
August 5, he created a stir beating Indian wrestlers one after another in a
freestyle wrestling held at the Dhaka stadium. He gained recognition after his
match with last Indian Satyanarayan Khanna. After that, the government gave him
the title “Tiger”.
From 1973 to 1981, he was the National Wrestling Champion of Bangladesh.
Alongside wrestling, he earned reputation as a weightlifter. From 1975 to 1982,
he won gold medal every year in his weight category. In 1967, he joined the
police service. Later in 1971, he plundered the armory in Khalishpur and joined
the freedom war. After the independence of the country, he came to Dhaka and
started practicing wrestling in a full swing and became ‘Tiger Jalil.’ But on
his death anniversary, the Wrestling Federation does not even commemorate his
illustrious achievement for once. This legendary sportsman died of cardiac arrest in Khulna on September
9, 1999.
