Ace Bangladesh cricketer Sakib al Hasan was dethroned as the number one all-rounder in one-day internationals in the aftermath of his ordinary displays with both bat and ball in the just-concluded three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe.
Sakib lost top position to Mohammad Hafeez of Pakistan in the latest Reliance International Cricket Council rankings, released on Thursday.
Sakib slipped to second place after going through a poor series by his own standards.
The Magura lad could accumulate only 53 runs at an average of 17.66 while his bowling performances also contributed to his downfall as he could grab just one wicket, that too at a whopping average of 112.
To make matters worse, Sakib was dispatched for 5.33 runs per over, an economy rate which was one of the worst figures of the series by a Bangladeshi bowler, with only Shafiul Islam conceding more runs an over among the regular bowlers.
The 26-year-old all-rounder had faced Zimbabwe in a one-day series for the first time in 2006. In that series, Sakib played a single one-dayer scoring 30 runs and claiming one wicket at an average of 39.
Including that series, Bangladesh clashed with Zimbabwe in ODI series on nine occasions. Since that series seven years ago, Sakib never recorded batting averages below 30 or his bowling averages never crossed 40 in a bilateral one-day series against their South African opponents.
Sakib’s recent injury lay-offs might be the reason behind his current downturns. After the conclusion of the 2nd Bangladesh Premier League a couple of months ago, he decided to undergo surgery on his calf muscle which ruled him of the entire tour of Sri Lanka in March.
Even after making a comeback on the tour of Zimbabwe, he was not deemed completely fit due to which he only bowled 16 overs without any success in the first of the two-match Test series.
Sakib registered scores of 1, 34 and 18 in the ODI series, although luck deserted him in the first two matches. He was run-out after a horrible misunderstanding with Mominul Haque in the first one-dayer while he was the victim of an unfortunate umpiring error in the second ODI.
Bangladesh can only hope their mercurial all-rounder roars back to form sooner rather than later which will also remarkably change the fortunes of the team that once again suffered the ignominy of yet another ODI series defeat against their long-time rivals.
-With New Age input
