GT20 League in Canada has already started. 2 matches have been played in this league and we have seen some good performances and on Friday, Bangladesh’s star all-rounder gave a match winning performance while playing for Montreal Tigers who registered a 5 wickets win over Surrey Jaguars.
But something strange happened in this match. Shakib Al Hasan bowled excellent in the first innings, picking up 4 wickets, including of his national side teammate Litton Das, for just 18 runs. Also, when it came to chasing, he scored quick 13-balls-26 which eased the way to win.
Chasing only 136 runs, when Montreal Tigers lost the wicket of Chris Lynn in the 3rd over with 25 runs on board and Muhammad Waseem, the opener of Montreal Tigers was struggling with the bat to get going. Shakib Al Hasan came through bat at number 3 and played quick innings of 13-balls-26 and when he was dismissed in the 6th over, by that time, the damage was already done.
After Shakib departed, Surrey Jaguars’ bowlers did a good job, trapping 2 more batters in the next three overs and not conceding too many runs. Dilpreet Singh, a local cricketer, came to bat at 5 and player a slow innings of 31-balls-29, however, he came not out and was awarded player of the match award.
When you look at Shakib’s numbers wth the bat and the ball, it clearly appears that the Tigers won the match because of his performance. This was really upsetting for Bangladeshi fans who are watching GT20 League because of some of their players are taking part in it.
Also, it raises questions about what are the referring standards and how the performance is taken into consideration while deciding who has has the positive impact on the game.
Elsewhere, the 43-years old Sahid Afridi hit two big sixes while playing for Toronto Nationals, his team won the match.
