Kolkata Knightriders seemed desperate in order to rope a batsman who could stabilize the middle-order after a pathetic showdown in the last season with the major part of the onus being shifted to the solitary shoulders of Eoin Morgan. With Sunil Narine not really able to show hope with the bat they had to rely on the likes of Pat Cummins to deliver for them who did manage to spark intermittent shows of brilliance but couldn’t really get at the end of what could have been a scintillating show from the big fast bowler.
Shakib stayed with Kolkata Knightriders for seven seasons and played an extremely industrious role in helping the team to rebuild from scratch after three ordinary seasons.
He was a major part of the championship-winning squad in 2012 and 2014 and went on to continue with an incredible performance until 2017 before he was switched to Sunrisers Hyderabad who was pretty content with his first season’s performance after which he was retained. Unfortunately, he had to let go due to a suspension that was imposed on him and it took him a hiatus of almost 1 and a half years to come back to the cricketing circuit.
Starting at a base price of Rs 2 crores, Shakib managed to pique the initial interests of Punjab Kings and KKR, which fizzled out very shortly and the Bangladeshi all-rounder was roped in for a modest price of Rs 3.2 crores by Kolkata Knightriders.
Though this isn’t a price that he would appreciate whole-heartedly given the expectations of the pundits that he would be going for a staggering amount but his old team dying to get him back will be an inspiring sign for one of the most commanding all-rounders of IPL.
