SPORTS DESK:
Former Indian batter Virender Sehwag slammed Bangladesh’s all-rounder Shakib al Hasan for his poor performance in the ongoing T20 World Cup, suggesting he retire from the format.
Shakib has had a forgettable T20 World Cup so far. Shakib’s struggles continued against South Africa as he was caught off Anrich Nortje’s bowling. He bowled only one over in the match. He did not get any wickets from the bowling, giving 6 runs. He got out after scoring only 8 runs with the bat. Before this, he could not play well against Sri Lanka. his performance dipped further against South Africa.
After the Tigers lost the match by four runs, Sehwag laid into Shakib, criticizing him for going for an extravagant shot when his team needed him to remain at the wicket and said the all-rounder should’ve been dropped from the T20 side a long time ago.
“I felt it in the last World Cup that he should no longer be picked in T20s,” Sehwag said in a Cricbuzz show on Monday.
“According to me, he is past his time. Maybe he was brought in because of his experience, but he didn’t show his experience. He should have stuck around, spent some time on that wicket.”
“You are not Matthew Hayden or Gilchrist who can just swing for it against short balls, you are a Bangladeshi player. Play according to your ability. Hooks and pulls are not your shots, play your shots and at least stay at the wicket,” he added.
“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 further said.
Shakib’s batting performance in the 2022 T20 World Cup was disappointing as well. He scored only 44 runs in five innings with a strike rate of 95.65.