Shakib Al Hasan has been enjoying a brilliant run of form in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019 and during Bangladesh’s group stage encounter against Afghanistan in Southampton on Tuesday, the all-rounder scripted history by becoming to first Bangladesh cricketer to score 1000 runs in World Cups, reports Hindustan Times.
Shakib, who has already scored two centuries in the tournament, also became the 19th player overall to achieve this brilliant feat. The milestone was achieved when the left-hander was batting on 35* in the crucial World Cup encounter.
Shakib Al Hasan who has been a force to be reckoned with for Bangladesh with 425 runs from 5 matches and he played a major role in keeping the semi-final dreams alive for his side. The 32-year-old scored a brilliant 121 against hosts England and then followed it up with an equally impressive 124* against West Indies.
Earlier, Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib won the toss and elected to bowl first. After the toss was delayed 10 minutes by light rain, Naib decided to take advantage of murky conditions that could help his bowlers.
“I wanted to bowl first, conditions suit for bowling and we have played here so know about the conditions,” Naib said. “In the second innings against India it was quite good for batting.”
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said: “It is a used wicket. If you look at the last match here it was slow and there was turn.We prefer to bat first to get use of it. We’ll see what happens.”