Former India opener Virender Sehwag bashed Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan after his poor showing against South Africa, saying that the all-rounder should feel ‘ashamed’ of recent T20 stats and retire from the format.
Shakib has had a forgettable T20 World Cup so far. After going for 30 in his three overs and making just eight runs in the first match against Sri Lanka, his performance dipped further against South Africa.
The all-rounder bowled just one over where he conceded six runs and didn’t get a wicket and got out for three, getting caught off of Anrich Nortje after top-edging a pull shot.
After the Tigers lost the match by four runs, Sehwag laid into Shakib, criticising him for going for an extravagant shot when his team needed him to remain at the wicket and said the all-rounder should’ve been dropped from the T20 side a long time ago.
“I felt it in the last World Cup that he should no longer be picked in T20s,” Sehwag said in a Cricbuzz show on Monday.
“According to me, he is past his time. Maybe he was brought in because of his experience, but he didn’t show his experience. He should have stuck around, spent some time on that wicket.
“You are not Matthew Hayden or Gilchrist who can just swing for it against short balls, you are a Bangladeshi player. Play according to your ability. Hooks and pulls are not your shots, play your shots and at least stay at the wicket,” he added.
Shakib’s stats with the bat in the previous T20 World Cup in 2022 were also quite poor, where he managed to score just 44 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 95.65.
Sehwag feels Shakib should realise that his time is up in T20Is and retire from the format.
“You are such an experienced player, you have been captain before, but your stats are such. You should feel ashamed of yourself and just declare that you are retiring from the T20 format.”
