Bangladesh all-rounder Sakib al Hasan said on Sunday that he had no regrets on missing out another all-round record during the third Test against Zimbabwe in Chittagong.
Sakib needed just two wickets on the fifth and final day to become the first cricketer to score 250 runs and take 20 wickets in a three-Test series. He already had 251 runs to his name and with Bangladesh needing nine wickets to win on the final day, it was expected Sakib would play a big hand in it and accomplish the feat in the process.
Bangladesh won the game, but ironically Sakib remained the only bowler not to get any wicket. Of the three specialised spinners used in the Test, he also bowled the least number of overs in the second innings.
Things did not go the way he had planned in the first innings as well, as he got just one wicket.
Since New Zealand in 2009, Sakib has rarely had an unproductive Test match like this.
But Sakib said this personal record had little meaning to him.
‘There is nothing to feel bad about,’ Sakib said after the match. ‘What would have happened if in the first two Tests I didn’t get 17 wickets, then? What if I only 10? You need luck. It wasn’t there in this Test, so it didn’t happen.’
‘If it did happen I would have felt good, but it didn’t happen, so it didn’t, that’s all.’
Sakib added that he did not set any goal for himself in this Test, like he did with his century and 10-wicket in Khulna.
Sakib joined Imran Khan and Ian Botham to score a century and take 10 wickets in a match and after the Test he said he was looking forward to it from the start.
A journalist had informed him about the record prior to the Khulna Test and Sakib decided to go for it.
‘In Chittagong it was a different story,’ he said.
‘It’s people who set these different targets for me,’ said Sakib, ‘But there was no such aim on my part. As I have said, if I can contribute, it feels good.’
‘When I play well it feels good, when I don’t, it feels bad that I could not contribute, and if your mind is happy, then everything is good,’ said Sakib, the man of the series.
Sakib was also man of the series when Bangladesh last swept a series against West Indies in 2009. He won the same award during their historic 4-0 one-day international series win over New Zealand next year.
The all-rounder said he never distinguished one performance from other.
‘I don’t analyse like that but, yes, I was satisfied with my performance. I could have perhaps batted better, but on the whole I was very satisfied with this series,’ he said.
-With New Age input
