Ace Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan on Wednesday said he is happy to be on the top of the list of highest wicket-takers in T20Is.
He finished with 5-22 in his allotted four overs and helped his side clinch a 77-run win over Ireland in the second T20I at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
On his way to the second five-wicket haul in this format, Shakib surpassed New Zealand pacer Tim Southee to become the highest wicket-taker in this format.
Shakib now has 136 wickets to his name in this format in 114 matches while Southee has 134 wickets in 107 matches.
Among the active bowlers, Rashid Khan (129), Ish Sodhi (114), Shadab Khan (101) and Mustafizur Rahman (100) have 100 or more wickets in this format.
“Feels good to be on the top as a Bangladeshi,” Shakib, who also struck an unbeaten 38 off 24 balls during Bangladesh’s mammoth total of 202-3, said in the post-match presentation.
He dismissed Lorcan Tucker (five) in his first delivery and then took the wickets of Ross Adair (six), Gareth Delany (six), George Dockrell (two) and Harry Tector (22) within his next two overs to complete his five-wicket haul.
Shakib could have finished with his career-best bowling figure in this format but he went for eight runs in his last over. He earlier registered his career-best bowling figure of 5-20 against West Indies in Mirpur in 2018.
The all-roudner said he decided to open the bowling after seeing the balls spinning when he was batting at the crease.
“When I batted, it spun when Tector bowled slowly. So, I thought there was something for the spinners and decided to start with spin,” he said, adding that they are not complacent with the series win as they want to whitewash the visitors.
“If you’re a good team, when you go to Australia or England, they always try to win 3-0 if they’re up 2-0. We’ll try the same. No chance of us being complacent,” said the skipper.
Shakib, meanwhile, said they might try some new faces in the last game of the series, scheduled for tomorrow. “We might try a few new players but they’ll be just as hungry to do well,” he concluded.
