Twitter Reactions: Shakib Al Hasan torments the Windies with his second World Cup century

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh all-rounder is currently going through a purple patch in his ODI career. In the ongoing World Cup, he has arguably been the Tigers’ most valuable player. He has delivered in all the departments and has shown why he is regarded as one of the best in the business. In the first two games, he notched 75 and 64 and then went on to score 121 against England at the Sophia Gardens.

After the ton, he became the second Bangladesh batsman after Mahmudullah to get a World Cup ton. On Monday, at The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton, the southpaw oozed class and calibre and raced away to his ninth century in the 50-overs format. After winning the toss and electing to field first, the Mashrafe Mortaza-led Tigers were faced with a daunting task of chasing down 322 in their 50 overs.

Shakib dictates terms in Taunton

The 32-year-old Shakib came to bat after the openers- Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar- put on an opening-wicket stand of 52 runs off 50 balls. There was still a lot of work to be done and Shakib was one of the key in the Bangladesh lineup. At first he stitched together a partnership of 69 runs with Tamim, who scored 48 off 53 before perishing to a stupendous run-out inflicted by speedster Sheldon Cottrell.

To Shakib’s dismay, in the very next over after Tamim’s dismissal, he lost Mushfiqur Rahim as his partner. After the couple of quick wickets, the onus was on Shakib to get his team back into the contest. The left-hander didn’t succumb to the pressure and racked up a half-century in 40 deliveries. Liton Das, at the other end, rotated the strike, and gave his senior partner the much-needed support.

Meanwhile, Shakib didn’t lose his cool after entering the 90s. Therefore, he equalled Mahmudullah’s feat of the most centuries (two) by a Bangladesh batsman in the World Cup. In the last ball of the 34th over, he drove Thomas through the covers for a four to bring up his century off 83 deliveries. Thereafter, the cricketing fraternity lauded the Tigers’ stalwart for standing tall yet another time in crisis.

Here is how Twitterati lauded Shakib