Cricket World Cup 2011: Form your opinion

Till, say, five years ago, expecting a cricketer from Bangladesh to have a wise head on his shoulders was like hoping that Pakistan would tackle terrorists with an iron hand. Wishful thinking!

Or so it was till Shakib Al Hasan emerged from the fishing hamlet of Jessore in the remote countryside of Magura. The all-rounder has outgrown the popularity and utility of stalwarts like Mohammad Ashraful — whose inconsistency has done him no favours — and the perennially-injured Mashrafe Mortaza.

Shakib, who will turn 24 during the World Cup, has, to a large extent, dictated his team’s fortunes at the big stage over the past few years. Believe it or not, but the youngster has scored a Test century, registered the best figures by a Bangladeshi to help them record their first overseas Test win, scored five ODI hundreds, led his side to a whitewash of New Zealand, besides, playing his part in bidding India goodbye in the 2007 World Cup.

The soft-spoken, forever-smiling Shakib has found his name in the ICC rankings for Test and ODI all-rounders ever since he started playing international cricket in 2006. Consistency is his forte, but no cricket expert has ever failed the ever-dependable Bangladeshi. Nor did any IPL franchise find him worthy till KKR picked him up for $425,000 in January.

And that’s where Aaron Levenstein’s definition, ‘Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital’, fails to paint the entire picture. The fact is that the numbers (see table) aren’t lying, at least in this case. Shakib is the only player — think beyond Kallis and Vettori — who finds a place in both lists, that of in-form batsmen and bowlers, tabulated by taking into account the respective performances over the 10 last ODIs.

The Bangladesh skipper has scored a hundred and three fifties in his last 10 games, besides picking up a staggering 24 wickets at an ‘Akramesque’ average of less than 18. Well, that’s precisely why teams must stand up and take notice of Shakib’s recent comments. “We have been playing good cricket for the last 15 months, and if we qualify for the second round, why not think of something big?” he said. And given that his boys will play a lot of games at home, Shakib may have, well, spoken like a wise man.

When you talk of batsmen — form or class — can the discussion ignore Indians? Expectedly, four of them find a place in the list of batsmen in good touch, but here’s where Levenstein wins hands down. Sachin Tendulkar didn’t score too many in his last two ODIs (in South Africa) and the last time he registered a three-figure score was in Gwalior (200*) in February 2010. Having said that, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan and Virat Kohli have all been in fabulous form over the past 8-10 months. Each of them is well and truly in dangerous form. Bring in the Sehwags and Dhonis and the batting line-up is a bookmaker’s delight.

Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate, with an average of over 88 and his teammate, Tom Cooper, are surprise entrants in the list which also comprises the heavily-consistent South African duo of Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla, besides southpaw JP Duminy and West Indian Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Among bowlers, Shakib — who else — is right at the top with Aussie Ryan Harris in second spot. Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s exploits against India have propelled him to No 3, even as countryman Morne Morkel finds himself in fourth position. Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, Thisara Perera, Wahab Riaz and Abdur Razzak also make the cut.

And not so surprisingly, there isn’t a single Indian bowler in the mix. It, however, remains to be seen if these players have already peaked or they will hit top gear sometime during the tournament. Levenstein will be watching.