Shakib enjoys 'car luck'

SHAKIB AND HIS PRIZED POSSESSION: Shakib Al Hasan and his newly-wedded wife Umme Ahmed Shishir stand with the Ford Fiesta that the all-rounder won by becoming the Player-of-the-tournament in BPL-2. PHOTO: FIROZ AHMEDSports Reporter

At the moment it seems as though that the sky is the only limit for Shakib Al Hasan. The left-handed all-rounder proved his ability yet again by bagging the player-of-the-series award of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) for the second time in a row. And while his performance in this year's BPL was arguably not the best -- he was half-fit -- his 329 runs and 15 wickets in the tournament was enough to get him yet another brand new car, a Ford Fiesta to go with the Honda City he won last year.

And what does Shakib plan to do with it? “I am getting a lot of cars. The 'car luck' is quite good. I don't remember what I did with them. I think I sold some of them. I still need to plan as to what I can do with this one,” exclaimed an excited Shakib at the post-match press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

The left-hander stated that stellar Performances from many local players meant that he had to fight harder to hold on to the award this year. “I aimed to win the award, obviously. But many performed well this time. I thought they might get it as well. I was the man-of-the-series last year so there was a kind of a pressure on me to hold on to that,” he said.

Shakib, who is still recovering from a shin bone injury, believed that he would have played better had he been fully fit. “Honestly, I wasn't 100 per cent fit, but if I was I would have performed a bit better. For instance I didn't take any catches throughout the tournament, just a run-out. If I was fully fit then I would have probably held on to a catch or two. But this confidence will help in the future for sure,” said Shakib

“(During) The two matches that I couldn't play, I worked on my fitness. I thought my body was a little weak. When I am completely fit I can do a lot with my body. So those few days I worked with my trainer and I think that helped me a bit,” he added.

Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, after having led Dhaka to the title for the second year in a row, thought that the team was a lot more confident this year. “Last year we targeted the semis after which two good Pakistani players, Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, joined and we became a very strong team. But this time we were a very balanced side right from the beginning,” he said. “This time we had five to six captains in the side so it wasn't a problem and everybody knew their roles.”

While Dhaka won the match quite comfortably, Mashrafe admitted that there were testing times in the final. “At one point (Mahmudullah) Riyad was playing well but had we been 20 runs ahead we would have been in a more comfortable position. But I think Mosharraf Rubel came and bowled beautifully. He took three wickets and changed the game.” a satisfied Mashrafe added.