Bangladesh all-rounder claimed the record for being the leading wicket-taker in men’s international T20s during their opening T20 World Cup fixture against Scotland on October 17. Shakib surpassed Lasith Malinga’s tally of 107 scalps when he dismissed Michael Leask to long-off.
The veteran all-rounder now has 108 wickets to his name from 89 international T20s at an outstanding economy of 6.70. Shakib has taken one five-wicket and four four-fers in his T20I career.
On 🔝 of the charts 📈
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) October 18, 2021
Well done, Shakib Al Hasan 👏#BNGvSCO #T20WorldCup #Bangladesh pic.twitter.com/AiGp2XFTNV
Shakib dismissed Richie Berrington on the second ball of his third over to equal Malinga’s record. The Scotsman, who danced down the track to smash Shakib for a six, was caught on the boundary rope by Afif Hossain. Two balls later, Shakib slowed up his pace and tempted Leask into a lofted drive as Liton Das took a simple catch at long-off.
Earlier this year against Australia, Shakib became the first men’s cricketer to take 100 wickets and score 1000 runs in the format. The first player to achieve this feat in international cricket was Ellyse Perry, who has 115 wickets and 1253 runs to her name.
The left-arm spin all-rounder became the no. 1 all-rounder in ICC men’s T20I rankings just recently. He also sits at the top of the rankings in ODI all-rounders’ rankings.
In July, Shakib overtook Mashrafe Mortaza’s tally of 269 wickets to become Bangladesh’s leading wicket-taker in the fifty over format. The 34yr old is in the elite company of Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis and Shahid Afridi – to have scored 6000 runs and picked 250 wickets in ODIs.
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In overall T20 cricket, Shakib sits sixth on the list of highest wicket-takers with 388 scalps in 346 matches. He is amongst the only four players to have 300 wickets and 5000 runs.
However, this latest achievement didn’t leave a good memory for Shakib as Bangladesh lost the match by six runs. The all-rounder picked two for 17 in his four overs but played an awful knock of 20 off 28 balls while chasing 141.
