Shakib Al Hasan - Bangladesh's enigmatic superstar

Did it come as a surprise or was such an end imminent for Shakib Al Hasan? Did he pay the price of his ambitions? These questions certainly turned out to be the topic of hot debate.

That Shakib, the problematic child of Bangladesh cricket, expressed his desire to play the last Test at home, subject to security clearance, has seemed to be Bangladesh cricket's biggest loss given the way he performed during his 18-year-long illustrious career.

Shortly after Shakib's press conference, ahead of the second Test against India in Kanpur, BCB president Faruque Ahmed's said the board cannot provide him security, thereby sealing the fate of his Test career which can no longer get the farewell it deserved at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Shakib had been an eternal dilemma for Bangladesh cricket and his off-field controversies certainly hogged the spotlight for a majority of his cricketing journey - whether it was earning a ban from ICC for not reporting corrupt approaches or inking a deal with betting company against the BCB rules, or his angry outbursts in domestic cricket.

BCB and Shakib have shared a strange relationship, and the board had often failed to handle its problematic superstar. Over the last few years, Shakib's priorities also changed from time to time as his business interests have evolved, and so has his desire to have a political career. But there is a price for everything and in Shakib's case, it was his cricket career.

There were ups and down in his performance on the field but never to a point that anyone could raise finger on him for taking his place as granted in the playing XI, across formats. However, things were not the same in the last one year. More precisely, after the eye problem, first reported by Cricbuzz, he faced during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India.

Ever since, his batting turned out to be a major concern and, statistically, he was not even close to his best. In the last 12 months, Shakib has played four Tests, scoring 146 runs, with no half-centuries to his name, and averaging 24.33 as compared to his career average of 38.33. He picked nine wickets at an average of 52.22 while his career average has been 31.85.

During the last one year, Shakib played 12 T20Is making only 169 runs at an average of 16.90 while his career average is 23.29. The left-arm spinner managed to pick up only nine wickets at an average of 27.5 which is a significant drop from his career average of 20.91.The left-hander was struggling in the ODI cricket as well, a format he is eyeing to continue for the time being.

Along the way he also had fitness issues that included a recurrence of his finger problem that he sustained during the T20 World Cup in 2023.

Off the field, his rift with Tamim Iqbal, exposed by Cricbuzz, also turned him into a villain for certain quarters. Tamim nearly ended his career before making a U-turn within 48 hours but later also making himself unavailable for the 2023 World Cup.

Shakib decided to go against Tamim in public after he opted out of the World Cup but later insisted it was pre-designed.

Since his childhood days, Shakib always worked with two coaches closely - Mohammad Salahuddin and Nazmul Abedin - who also designed his comeback training program at BKSP following the ban. Both know him inside out since their association with him from the BKSP days where he joined to learn his cricket.

Salahuddin, who is known to be Shakib's childhood mentor and worked with him extensively, feels that the allrounder would have never liked to be a burden on the team. "This is totally his decision and I know Shakib very well that if he feels that he is not enjoying and doesn't have anything to give for the team, he won't like to be a burden to anyone," Salahuddin told Cricbuzz on Thursday.

Salahuddin added that the recent fiasco regarding his political career and therefore getting implicated in the murder case might have also played a part in his retirement decision. Shakib was named as one of the accused in a murder case by the Adabor police station during the political unrest that led to the fall of the national government. However, the BCB has allowed him to continue playing for the team until he was proven guilty and had also assured Shakib that he wouldn't face any trouble if he were to return to Bangladesh to play.

"I think he is not enjoying because a lot of noises are going around him here and there and that is not good for him. That can be another reason he is not enjoying."

Salahuddin also noted that playing in one format could be beneficial for Shakib in the long run as it would allow him to give some time to his own self.

"(Playing in one format is beneficial for aging cricketers) is actually right because you see most of the players leaving one format and continue to play only one format," he said.

"He decided to leave Test and T20I and opted for ODIs and the reason can be not much is happening in that. In a Test match, you need to give time and he needs to give time to his family and this is another reason he might have decided to take this call on his future. When you are playing Test and T20I, you have to spend a lot of time outside your country but that will not be the case if you are playing only ODIs.

"Maybe it also occurred to him before taking the decision. Concentrating on one format will be helpful for him and I saw that when a player who is aging opts to play one format, it helps because he is focusing only on one specific format and as a result can prepare for it more meticulously. They have very specific training sessions keeping the format in mind.

"I think if he leaves cricket he will leave cricket altogether and he will not continue for long with one format and what I feel is that it is very difficult for cricketers to see matches where others are playing and he is not playing. That is what I feel. Maybe he will not prolong his career and will make a call on his ODI career after the Champions Trophy," he said.

Nazmul, who is currently a BCB director, opined that he would have liked to see his blue-eyed boy say the final goodbye in a more majestic manner that hardly looks to be the case in future considering if he retires from the other format after the Champions Trophy, subject to his selection, in that case chances are high he had already played his last international game in Bangladesh.

"I think he will stay in the minds of the people in one way or the other, whether it is positive to some people and negative to some people but if his career had ended (under) better (circumstances) it would have been better," Nazmul told reporters at Mirpur on Thursday.

"If he could retire at his home ground and retire with everyone's love it would have been better but I think he did not think about his own self he also thought about Bangladesh cricket," he added.

Bangladesh cricket will certainly miss Shakib despite all the drama that surrounded around him throughout his career but along the way it will also be a lesson for the next generation that everything has a price.