Shakib Al Hasan


Shakib Al Hasan is a former Bangladeshi international cricketer and captain who played Test, ODI and T20I cricket for the Bangladeshi cricket team. He was a former member of Parliament for Magura-1. He is known for his aggressive left-handed batting style in the middle order and controlled slow left-arm orthodox bowling. He is widely regarded as a very successful Bangladeshi sportsman, and considered as a highly skilled all-rounder in international Cricket. As of 2025, he is the all-time highest ICC Men's T20 World Cup wicket taker.
Shakib Al Hasan made his Test debut in 2007 against India. His breakthrough came in the Test against New Zealand in Chittagong in 2008, where he picked up 7 wickets for 36 runs, the best figures by a Bangladeshi bowler at that time. He quickly established himself as one of the team's leading performers. He has scored over 4,000 runs and taken more than 200 wickets in this format. He has also captained the team on their first-ever Test match win over England in 2016. In ODIs, Shakib has been more successful. He has scored over 6,000 runs and taken more than 270 wickets in the format, becoming the fastest player in history to achieve the double of 5,000 runs and 250 wickets in ODIs. In the 2012 Asia Cup, Shakib scored 237 runs, including three fifties, and took six wickets. Bangladesh progressed to the tournament's final for the first time but eventually lost to Pakistan by 2 runs, and he was awarded the Player of the tournament award in that edition of the tournament. He is considered one of the most impactful players of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he broke the record of maximum runs scored in the group stages of the World Cup which was previously held by Sachin Tendulkar and finished as the third-highest run-scorer, scoring 606 runs in total at the tournament.
He has played for various T20 tournaments around the world for many teams, including Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Jamaica Tallawahs and Dhaka Dominators, where he won the Indian Premier League twice with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 and 2014. He also won the Bangladesh Premier League title 3 times in 2012, 2013 and 2016 with Dhaka Dominators. He was named the player of the tournament in BPL a record four times, in 2012, 2013, 2018 and 2022. He has won 41 man-of-the-match awards, the highest for any Bangladeshi player and 16 man-of-the-series awards in all formats. Between 2009 and 2022, he captained the Bangladesh cricket team in 120 matches across all three formats.
Shakib Al Hasan has been a consistent performer for the Bangladesh cricket team over the years. His career has been filled with controversies over the years, consistently making it to the top of domestic media headlines. He is considered one of the most influential and followed people on social media in Bangladesh. He was ranked the 90th most famous athlete in the world by ESPN in 2019. He was included in the ICC Men's Team of the Year twice.

Early years and youth cricket

Born in Magura District, Khulna Division, Shakib began playing cricket at an early age. According to Prothom Alo sports editor Utpal Shuvro, "Shakib was fairly proficient at cricket and was often hired to play for different villages and teams". In one of those matches, Shakib batted aggressively and bowled fast, as he usually did, but also chose to experiment with spin bowling which proved to be not so effective. He was picked to play for Islampur, and took a wicket with his first ball; it was his first delivery with a proper cricket ball, having previously played with a taped tennis ball. He spent six months training at Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan, a government-run sports institute.
Shakib played his debut Under-17 match against UAE Under-17s in 2003 in the ACC Under-17 Cup where he recorded bowling figure of 3–18 in 8 overs.
In May 2004, at the age of 17, Shakib made his first-class debut for Khulna where he got a bowling figure of 0/116 off 30 overs in the 1st innings and 3/92 off 28 overs in the 2nd innings. He also scored 13 off 11 with three 4s in the 1st innings and 16 off 43 in the 2nd innings. His 1st first-class wicket was Rakibul Hasan.
Shakib first represented Bangladesh at the Under-19 level in November 2005 in the 2005 Afro-Asia Under-19 Cup against India Under-19. In his debut match, he scored 24 off 23 balls with four 4s and also achieved a bowling figure of 2/26 in 10 overs with 2 maidens by taking his first wicket of Tanmay Srivastava. In the tournament, Shakib played 5 matches, scoring 138 runs at an average of 38.50 and getting 5 wickets at an average of 25.20. On 30 November 2005, 18-year-old Shakib guided Bangladesh to a four-wicket win over England in the opening match of the tri-nation Under-19 tournament with his 82 off 62. During the final of a tri-nation tournament, Shakib scored an 86-ball century and took three wickets to lead his team to victory. In his 18 youth One Day Internationals, he has scored 563 runs at an average of 35.18 with three 50s and one 100 and a high score of 100 and took 22 wickets at an average of 20.18 with an economy of 3.68 and a best figure of 4/34.
On 1 January 2005, Shakib made his first-class debut in the match between Bangladesh Cricket Board President's XI and Zimbabweans where he scored 14 off 14 in the 1st innings and 15 off 66 in the 2nd innings. He also got bowling figures of 0/133 in 32 overs. In February 2005, Shakib got his 1st first-class international wicket by dismissing Vusimuzi Sibanda and a five-wicket haul playing against Zimbabwe A.

Domestic and T20 franchise cricket

National Cricket League (NCL)

Since 2004, Shakib has played for Khulna in the National Cricket League.
In the 2004–05 season of the tournament, Shakib, since his debut in May 2004 at the age of 17, played just 3 matches. He scored 129 runs at an average of 25.80 with a high score of 54 and took 16 wickets at an average of 27.87 with a best bowling figure of 6/79 in an innings and 9/114 in a match.
In the 2006–07 season, he played just 2 matches scoring 51 runs at an average of 17.00 with a high score of 23. He bowled only in 1 innings where he bowled 4 overs of 9 runs with 1 maiden over.
Shakib has played 14 matches scoring 930 runs at an average of 40.43 with three 100s and a high score of 129. He also got 31 wickets at an average of 33.16 with one 5-wicket haul.

English County Cricket (ECC)

County Championship

Having signed a contract in November 2009, Shakib joined up with Worcestershire, playing in the second division of the County Championship, in July 2010. He was the first Bangladeshi to represent a county side. Shakib was forced to delay by the BCB for the beginning of his spell as Worcestershire's overseas player. While playing for Worcestershire, he took his best first-class bowling figures of 7/32 against Middlesex. In eight first-class matches, he scored 358 runs at 25.57 and took 35 wickets at 22.37, as Worcestershire secured promotion to the first division at the end of the season.
After the 2011 IPL, Shakib returned to Worcestershire for seven weeks. He played a single County Championship match as his time with the team coincided with the 2011 Friends Life t20, but in that match, he took seven wickets and passed 3,000 runs in first-class cricket.
Shakib signed a one-match deal with Surrey for their vital County Championship fixture against Somerset at Taunton. In 1st innings of Somerset, Shakib claimed took 4 wickets of 97 runs.
Shakib played five List-A matches for Worcestershire, scoring 187 at an average of 37.40 and taking 9 wickets at 17.77.

FriendsLife t20

Worcestershire finished fifth out of nine teams in their group for the T20 competition, failing to qualify for the quarter-finals. From 12 matches, Shakib took 19 wickets, finishing as the club's leading wicket-taker, equal with seam bowler Gareth Andrew. He also scored 110 runs at an average of 9.16.
Shakib signed for Leicestershire as their second overseas player for 2013 Friends Life t20 campaign. Shakib played in 10 matches scoring 146 runs at an average of 18.25 with a top score of 43* in the 7-wicket win over Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Trent Bridge. He also got 9 wickets at an average of 27.00 with an economy of 6.50 and a best bowling figure of 2/7 in the 10-wicket win over Yorkshire.

Indian Premier League (IPL)

Although Shakib was part of the auction of players held the following month for the 2009 Indian Premier League, Shakib was not chosen by any of the eight teams and no bids were made for him despite being rated as the world's highest-ranked ODI all-rounder at the time. His teammate Mashrafe Mortaza, who was bought in the auction by the Kolkata Knight Riders, said "I would have been a lot happier if Shakib had got a team because he truly deserved it for his sensational form with the bat and ball". Shakib had no buyers in the 2010 IPL auction as well, which was very surprising considering his stature in international cricket at the time.
For the 2011 Indian Premier League, Shakib was contracted by Kolkata Knight Riders for US$425,000. He made his debut in the tournament on 15 April 2011 in a match against Rajasthan Royals. He claimed two wickets in the match, first that of Amit Paunikar and then Shane Watson, but did not get the chance to bat as his team only lost a wicket, winning by 9 wickets. KKR were knocked out in the semi-finals of the competition; Shakib played in seven matches, taking 11 wickets at an average of 15.90, and finished as KKR's third-highest wicket-taker.
In the 15th Match of the 2012 IPL against Rajasthan Royals, Shakib got a bowling figure of 3–17 which is still his best in his IPL career. KKR won their maiden title in the final against CSK where Shakib contributed with a crucial cameo.
In the 2014 Indian Premier League, Shakib was retained by KKR for a league fee of INR 2.80 crore. In the competition, he scored 227 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 149.34; his best being a 60 off 38 balls. He also achieved 11 wickets in 13 matches at an economy of 6.68 and an average of 30.36. His all-round performance was instrumental in KKR's title win. For his performances in 2014, he was named as the 12th man in the Cricinfo IPL XI.
In the 2015 IPL, Shakib played only four matches scoring 36 runs at an average of 12 with 23 being his highest score and picking up four wickets at an average of 30.75 and gave away 8.78 runs per over with his best bowling figures of 2/22 against Mumbai Indians.
In the 38th match of the 2016 IPL, Shakib combined with Yusuf Pathan put on an unbroken 134 run partnership against the Gujarat Lions, the highest for the fifth wicket in all IPL's. Shakib scored 66*, his best score so far in his IPL career, went in vain as Gujarat Lions won the match by 5 wickets.
In the 2017 Indian Premier League, Shakib played his only home match against Gujarat Lions where he scored 1* and returned with bowling figures of 0/31 in that match. He left the tournament midway to play a tri-series in Ireland for the build-up of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. Shakib played just 3 matches batting in just 1 inning scoring 1 and achieved 2 wickets at an average of 47.50.
Shakib was released by KKR and was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2018 IPL auction. On 24 May 2018, he became the second T20 player to take 300 wickets and score 4,000 runs in the format with the wicket of Rohit Sharma in the SRH's victory against the Mumbai Indians in the 2018 IPL.
Between 2019 Indian Premier League, BCB wanted to call Shakib back for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup preparation camp but he skipped the camp for match practice even after playing only 1 match at that time. Shakib was hoped for some IPL matches before World Cup 2019 as Jonny Bairstow and David Warner would leave for their respective World Cup preparation camps.
Shakib was released by the Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of the 2020 IPL auction after playing for 2 seasons.
Shakib was listed at the highest base price of INR 2 crore for the 2021 IPL auction and was subsequently bought by his former team KKR again for a price of. After the suspension of the 2021 Indian Premier League, Shakib and Mustafizur Rahman returned home on 6 May 2021 via a chartered flight arranged by the BCCI with their respective franchises sharing the cost of the flight. Shakib could not take part in the remainder of IPL because of not getting a no-objection certificate from the BCB.
In IPL 2023, Shakib Al Hasan got signed by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 1.5 crore. But due to international engagements with Bangladesh national cricket team and personal reasons he pulled himself out of IPL 2023.