Shakib stays ahead of curve

"We know Shakib is a very experienced campaigner. He just lands it on the spot, whatever he bowls. It was the first time that he bowled two chinaman deliveries. He was pretty accurate with that too. With his experience, he is coming out with some new things. He bowled extremely well."

Angelo Mathews

Five around the bat, one at short mid-off and another at short mid-on. That was the field set for Vishwa Fernando as Shakib Al Hasan came in to bowl his hattrick delivery. He did not quite get the hattrick ball right, and was unable to bag his first career hattrick, as Fernando survived but the damage had been done in the previous two deliveries.

The wily old Shakib's armoury keeps stretching to include new variations. Having come back from Covid-19 after initially being ruled out of the first Test at Chattogram and taking part in just one practice session, where he did not bowl a single delivery and only focused on his batting, Shakib lifted Bangladesh up in the second session of day two with the ball.

A flat surface was on offer at Chattogram's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. It led to Shakib keeping up his bag of surprises. He turned into a wrist spinner on a few deliveries, bowling leg-spin to try out something new. After Lunch, he turned the tide towards Bangladesh.

"I wasn't surprised, Shakib bhai was trying that delivery and he had told us that," Nayeem Hasan, who picked up six wickets as Sri Lanka first innings ended at 397, said in the press conference.

Two deliveries into the second session, Shakib began to showcase his guile with variations. A quicker one to Ramesh Mendis feigned to bounce adequately, only it did not. It skidded on from a length before sneaking in to castle the batter. Next delivery, a regulation left-arm orthodox delivery beat Lasith Embuldenya all ends up and rapped the pads. Even a review could not save Embuldenya's blushes.

"We know Shakib is a very experienced campaigner. He just lands it on the spot, whatever he bowls. It was the first time that he bowled two chinaman deliveries. He was pretty accurate with that too. With his experience, he is coming out with some new things. He bowled extremely well," Angelo Mathews, who did the bulk of Lankans' scoring in the first innings, said at the press conference after day two's play.

39 overs, 60 runs and three wickets at an economy of 1.53. Shakib had his wits about him. Fit or unfit, he got his way and not only with inclusion in the side immediately upon recovering from Covid but also in his effectiveness and inventions.