Is Shakib actually any good as captain?

Is there anything as fickle as public opinion?

Public opinion, at the moment, is very much in favour of Shakib Al Hasan as captain. Most cricket fans in the country are imagining Shakib, the Bangladesh captain for the Asia Cup and the World Cup, as the knight in shining armour who will rescue the ODI team from an uncertain position and lead them to unforeseen heights.

But all this can change within a week. A couple of defeats to Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup will flip the tables completely on Shakib. The ones who are on board the captain Shakib bandwagon won’t think twice before jumping off and joining the anti-Shakib mob.

But if there is anyone who already knows about the fickle nature of Bangladesh cricket fans, it’s Shakib.

In 2011, when a 24-year-old Shakib was entrusted with the honour and the burden of leading the Tigers in their first World Cup on home soil, great many things were expected from him.

Just the previous year, Bangladesh had clean-swept New Zealand at home, with Shakib almost singlehandedly outperforming the entire Kiwi squad as a bowler, batter and captain extraordinaire.

Fans expected Shakib and the Bangladesh team to similarly step up in the World Cup as well. But when the result didn’t match their lofty expectations, the fans came down on Shakib.

The criticism weighed heavy on a young captain, and he made the rookie mistake of airing his displeasure at the naysayers publicly in the media.

By the end of 2011, Shakib was no longer the captain in any format.

Shakib later became the captain in Tests and Twenty20s, but other than a few ODIs here and there where he stepped in for regular captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, the all-rounder was not considered for the captaincy in the 50-over format.

But on 11 August, after Tamim Iqbal stepped down from the post due to injury, Shakib was named the captain for the Asia Cup and the World Cup, making him Bangladesh’s three-format captain once again after almost 12 years.

Public opinion is currently in favour of Shakib the captain. But judging a captain’s merit on public opinion is not wise because of the point made at the very beginning of this elongated intro, there is nothing as fickle as public opinion.

So, how does one judge a captain? Statistics seem like a fair metric and so does a trophy count. There are also things that can’t be quantified but can be observed. Things like helping other players flourish, radiating positivity, harnessing the best out of his resources and instilling a sense of belief in the team, which every good captain does.

So, is Shakib a good captain? Let’s weigh the facts and then make up our minds.

Shakib has captained Bangladesh in 108 matches across three formats, which is second most behind Mashrafe Bin Mortaza who has led the Tigers in 117 matches.

But for this assessment, taking only the white-ball formats into account makes more sense.

Shakib has led Bangladesh in 50 ODIs and 39 Twenty20s. Under his leadership, Bangladesh have won 23 50-over games and 16 20-over fixtures.

Winning percentage-wise, Shakib is the third most successful ODI captain among captains who have led the team in at least 10 ODIs. Shakib’s winning percentage of 46.00 is less than Mashrafe’s 56.81 and Tamim Iqbal’s 56.75.

In T20s, however, Shakib is the country’s most successful skipper with 16 victories and a winning percentage of 41.02.

According to the stats, Shakib may not be the undisputed best captain Bangladesh has ever had, but he is undoubtedly among the best.

One of the biggest drawbacks for Shakib as captain is the fact that under his captaincy Bangladesh have never won anything significant or reached the knockout stage of an ICC tournament.

Saying he has done nothing significant as captain, may seem a little harsh as he was the man who led Bangladesh to its maiden ODI and Test series win overseas back in 2009. But that triumph came against a second-string West Indies side.

In 2010, he led Bangladesh to a remarkable 4-0 clean sweep over New Zealand at home. But that achievement was overshadowed by the disappointment that came the following year.

Bangladesh, one of the three hosts of that year's tournament, got eliminated from the first round of the ICC World Cup 2011 under Shakib. That tournament is widely regarded as a disaster for Bangladesh, mainly owing to the capitulation against the West Indies and South Africa.

Bangladesh got bundled out for just 58 against the Caribbean team and 78 against the Proteas. As captain, Shakib bore the brunt of the defeat. However, blasting the captain because all batters committed hara-kiri in two games doesn’t seem entirely fair.

A look at the points table would show that Bangladesh actually came close to qualifying for the knockout phase, finishing fifth in the seven-team Group B.

Bangladesh and the West Indies finished with six points after the group-stage but the Caribbeans edged the hosts owing to a better net run-rate.

Had Bangladesh not suffered huge defeats against the West Indies and South Africa or had a few other results gone Bangladesh’s way, Shakib could’ve become the first captain to take Bangladesh to the knockout phase of a World Cup.

Shakib came close to winning something other than a bi-lateral series trophy in 2018.

Bangladesh reached the final of the tri-nation series Nidahas Trophy. The Tigers knocked out hosts Sri Lanka with a famous victory in a match better remembered as the ‘Naagin Dance’ match.

In the final against India, all Sri Lankan fans were booing Bangladesh and cheering at the top of their lungs for India.

In the last two overs, India required 34 runs with five wickets in hand. Shakib handed the ball to pacer Rubel Hossain, who had conceded just 13 runs and taken a couple of wickets in his first two overs.

Shakib made the astute choice as skipper, using his best bowler in the penultimate over to leave as many runs as possible for the other bowler to defend in the final over.

But wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik tore into Rubel, taking 22 runs from his over to leave only 12 runs to get in the final over.

Part-time pacer Soumya Sarkar did well to take the match to the final ball. With Karthik on strike, India needed five to win. Karthik needed to pull off what Javed Miandad had famously done against Chetan Sharma in an India-Pakistan clash in Sharjah in 1986.

Karthik did exactly that, breaking Bangladeshi hearts, and denying captain Shakib a trophy.

Last year, Shakib returned as the captain in T20s. Just weeks after being renamed as skipper, Shakib had to lead the team in the Asia Cup, which was held as a T20 tournament, and then in less than two months he captained the team in the T20 World Cup.

Just 12 months later, he is having to do the same in the ODI format.

In last year’s Asia Cup, Bangladesh lost to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in the group-stage and got eliminated from the first round.

In the T20 World Cup too, Shakib couldn’t lead his side to any remarkable success as the Tigers got knocked out of the tournament from the Super 12 phase.

But since the T20 World Cup, the Bangladesh team has been on a roll in T20s.

In 2023, Bangladesh have so far played eight T20s, winning seven and suffering only one defeat.

Three of those victories came against the current ODI World Champions England at home, which was Bangladesh’s maiden T20 series win over the English side.

The Tigers then won against Ireland 2-1 and clean-swept Afghanistan 2-0 at home.

These victories, however, don’t present the full picture. Watching the T20 side play under Shakib's leadership has been a refreshing change for Bangladesh cricket fans.

The players now walk onto the field with an extra bounce on their steps, more confident about their abilities and unfussed about the outcome as long as the process is right, much like their captain Shakib.

With just a few new additions, Shakib has transformed a timid T20 side into a competitive one.

The T20 team’s performance under Shakib made the all-rounder an ideal candidate for ODI captaincy. Bangladesh is a much better team in ODIs than it is in T20s. So, on paper, Shakib’s task should be easier with the 50-over team.

With the ODI team, Shakib’s challenge will be to transform a formidable team into a side that can win the Asia Cup and go far in the World Cup.

Statistically, Shakib is one of the best captains Bangladesh has ever produced. His trophy case as captain might look bare but his previous captaincy reigns can’t be accused of being completely fruitless. He is a captain who can lead by example and has a track record of getting the best out of his resources.

The only two men who have a better winning percentage than Shakib as captain for Bangladesh are Mashrafe and Tamim. And both of them at different times have praised Shakib for his strategic prowess.

So, what’s the outcome of this lengthy analysis? Is Shakib any good as a captain?

The answer, in one word, is yes.