Bangladesh Shakib Al Hasan (R) and teammate Imrul Kayes celebrate the wicket of England's Ben Stokes during the third day of the first Test match between Bangladesh and England at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Cricket Stadium in Chittagong on 22 October, 2016
Bangladesh Shakib Al Hasan (R) and teammate Imrul Kayes celebrate the wicket of England's Ben Stokes during the third day of the first Test match between Bangladesh and England at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Cricket Stadium in Chittagong on 22 October, 2016
Cricket

If Shakib takes 10 wickets, Test will be easier for us: Imrul

Prothom Alo English Desk

Bangladesh batter Imrul Kayes, who is now out of the national side, believes that the first Test against West Indies, starting Thursday at Antigua, won't be tougher for the Tigers if the team's captain Shakib Al Hasan takes 10 wickets in the match, BSS reports.

"If Shakib claims 10 wickets in the match, the task will be easier for us," Kayes said on.

"We also have a spinner like Taijul Islam who is capable of taking 10 wickets in a match in any condition. So, I think the match will be exciting one," he added.

In 11 matches against the Caribbean, Shakib so far claimed 46 wickets, the highest for him against a single opponent. Of the 11 matches, he returned five-wicket haul thrice but had never taken 10 wickets against the West Indies.

But the way he rejuvenated himself as a bowler, experts believes it is not far from his reach. Even though the West Indies wicket of late started assisting the pacers like 1990's, Shakib still took 6-33 in an innings at Kingston in Bangladesh's last series in West Indies in 2018.

Shakib, however, is back again in Caribbean island as a captain after Mominul Haque choosing to step down to concentrate more on batting.

Bangladesh cricket captain Shakib Al Hasan (R) celebrates with his teammate Imrul Kayes (L) after the dismissal of the West Indies cricketer Shai Hope during the second day of the first Test cricket match between Bangladesh and West Indies at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on 23 November 2018

Bangladesh so far won four matches against West Indies in 18 encounters. All four wins came under the captaincy of Shakib even though officially Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was the captain when Bangladesh beat West Indies for the first time in 2009. But in that match, Mashrafe was injured on the day one of the Test and therefore Shakib had to lead the side throughout the match.

Kayes said Shakib is the perfect person to lead the side at this moment as Bangladesh have been going through a bad patch in the Test cricket.

"You know better than how he (Shakib) is as a captain," Kayes, who joins Bangladesh Tigers camp in a bid to force his way back to national side, said.

"He is proactive as a captain on the field. He is such a player who can motivate the young players. If we get Shakib regularly, I think it will benefit Bangladesh cricket."

Also read:Shakib-led Tigers keen to usher a new era in Test cricket

Kayes, however, is hopeful that Bangladesh this time will change their record against West Indies who won the last four matches between the two sides.

"I know we couldn't play well against West Indies in the last few matches. But this time we got a balanced side. We have a good pace attack and our spinners are naturally gifted," Kayes remarked.

"I don't want Bangladesh to loss the match. If they are not able to win the match, I want them to draw the match at least. I hope that we'll get something better."

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