Mohammad Kaif super impressed with Shakib Al Hasan

Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif was left super impressed with Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. Soon after Shakib struck a double century against New Zealand, the former Indian cricketer took to social media to shower praise on him. Kaif congratulated Shakib for his marathon knock and called him as one of the most useful players in modern day cricket. During the first Test between New Zealand and Bangladesh, the two veterans of Bangladesh team Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim shared a mammoth 359 run partnership for the 5th wicket. The team managed to post a gigantic total of 542/7 on the day 2.

En route the record partnership, Shakib plundered 217 runs. The score of 217 made Shakib the highest individual scorer for Bangladesh in the history of Test cricket. He also became only the third Bangladeshi batsman to score a double ton in Tests. Prior to Shakin, Mushfiqur Rahim had scored 200 against Sri Lanka in 2013 and Tamim Iqbal was the first Bangladeshi batsman to score a double ton.

He had achieved the feat in 2015 when he scored 206 against Pakistan. The performance by Shakib has drawn praise from all corners for him. Mohammad Kaif was no exception. Kaif took to micro blogging site Twitter to praise Shakib. He tweeted, “Wow ,what an innings from @Sah75official. Probably, one of the most useful cricketers in the modern game.”

Wow ,what an innings from @Sah75official . Probably,one of the most useful cricketers in the modern game.#NZvsBAN pic.twitter.com/oQogWqdP3I

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) January 13, 2017

Shakib Al Hasan is currently the second ranked all-rounder in the ICC Test and T20i all-rounders list. In the ICC ODI rankings for the all-rounders, he is the top ranked player. With Shakib in form, Bangladesh will hope to pull up a win in New Zealand this season. Earlier during the limited overs tournament, they had faced embarrassing defeats. They were defeated in the ODI and T20I series. They lost all 6 matches across the two formats of the game. The start in the Test series will give them good hopes now.