Bangladesh's star with bat and ball

The numbers in this piece have been updated at the end of the Khulna Test, where Shakib scored a century and took ten wickets in the match.

For Bangladesh fans tired of their team being compared unfavourably with the other top sides in international cricket over several years, here's one stat which will cheer them: since 2000, there have been only five instances of a player scoring a century and taking a five-wicket haul in a Test match - three of those have been by Bangladesh players.

Sohag Gazi scored an unbeaten 101 and took 6 for 77 against New Zealand in Chittagong last year, but the other two were both achieved by their best cricketer. Shakib Al Hasan may have had run-ins with the crowds and the authorities in his career, but with bat and ball he has been outstanding for several years, twice getting a century and a five-for in the same Test: 144 and 6 for 82 against Pakistan in Mirpur in 2011, and 137 and 5 for 80 in the ongoing Test against Zimbabwe in Khulna.

There have been only two other such instances in all Tests since 2000: R Ashwin made 103 and took 5 for 156 against West Indies in a memorable drawn game in Mumbai in which both teams ended with scores level, while the previous instance was way back in 2002, by Jacques Kallis against Bangladesh. Shakib's not yet 28, and should have many more years of cricket left in him, but he has already, in just 36 Tests, twice achieved something that Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee never did, and the great Imran Khan managed only once. In fact, Shakib already belongs in an exclusive club of five players who have achieved this feat more than once: the others in this club are Ian Botham (who has done it five times), Kallis, Mushtaq Mohammad, and Garry Sobers. When he took a five-for in the second-innings as well, he entered an even more exclusive club of players who've scored a hundred and taken ten wickets in a Test - the only other members of that club are Botham and Imran.

Of the 36 Tests that Shakib has played Bangladesh have lost 25, but that hasn't dampened his spirits, or resulted in his performances getting diminished. Shakib has been a star performer almost from the time he started playing for Bangladesh, but he has turned it up a few notches in the last four years. Since the beginning of 2011, in 15 Tests Shakib has averaged almost 50 with the bat, and 31.30 with the ball, which are exceptional all-round numbers. It's true that during this period he has mostly played at home - 12 out of 15 Tests have been in Bangladesh - and it's also true that he hasn't played some of the top teams - none of those 15 Tests have been against Australia, South Africa, or England - and yet these are numbers that can't be ignored. In these last four years, he has played two Tests each against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and averages more than 50 with the bat against each of them; in four games against West Indies he averages 53.28. His poorest batting average is in fact against Zimbabwe (38.60 in five Tests). The bowling stats are boosted by his numbers against Zimbabwe - 25 wickets at 20.12 - but against better batting sides too he has been consistent.

Since the beginning of 2011, only three allrounders have achieved the double of 1000 runs and 50 wickets in Tests. Apart from Shakib, the others in the club are Stuart Broad and Darren Sammy, but both have a higher bowling average than batting average. Broad has been a prolific wicket-taker, with 165 scalps in 40 Tests, but while he has contributed vital runs to England in the lower order, his batting stats aren't quite in Shakib's league. Darren Sammy has a Test century, but only five other 50-plus scores in 45 innings. With the ball too, he has taken fewer wickets in 27 Tests than Shakib has in 15.

With both bat and ball, Shakib has easily been among the top contributors for Bangladesh in Tests over the last four years. Only Mushfiqur Rahim has scored more runs, and among those who have scored at least 500 runs, only Mominul Haque has a higher average. It's also a sign of some improvement that three Bangladesh batsmen average more than 40 during this period; the overall batting average for the team has also lifted to 31.04 during this period, after languishing in the early to mid-20s through most of their Test life.

Even more than the batting, though, it's as a bowler that Shakib has consistently made even greater contributions. He has taken 59 wickets in 15 Tests; the next-best during this period for Bangladesh is 38, by Gazi, at an average in excess of 40.

In the 15 Tests that Shakib has played during this period, he has taken 31% of the team's bowler wickets, and scored 16% of the team's bat runs. In a nutshell, that encapsulates the enormous influence that he has wielded on Bangladesh's fortunes.