Shakib joins the 500 T20 wickets club

Shakib Al Hasan added yet another feather to his illustrious career as he picked up his 500th T20 wicket. And he didn't stop there.

Shakib came into the game between his Antigua and Barbuda Falcons and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in CPL 2025 one shy of the landmark.

Introduced for the first time in the 15th over of the innings, he nearly reached the milestone on the third delivery when Jayden Seales took a lovely catch on the boundary only for it to be ruled as a six when replays revealed the fielder had stepped on the boundary cushion.

Shakib created another chance in the same over and this time he made no mistake, completing a return catch to dismiss Mohammad Rizwan and become just the fifth bowler in T20 history to reach the 500-wicket mark. He struck a further two times in his next over to finish the match with 502 wickets.

With this achievement, Shakib joins an elite club of bowlers to have taken 500 wickets or more in T20 cricket - Rashid Khan (660), Dwayne Bravo (631), Sunil Narine (590) and Imran Tahir (554).

But what sets Shakib apart from the rest is his exceptional all-round ability. He is now the only player in T20 history to have completed the double of 7000 runs and 500 wickets. The closest anyone has come to this incredible feat is Dwayne Bravo, who ended his career with 6970 runs and 631 wickets. Andre Russell who has scored 9361 runs is nearing the 500-wicket mark, currently at 487.

Shakib's legacy is further elevated by his nine Player of the Series awards in T20s, the most by any cricketer. He stands ahead of players like Virat Kohli (8) and Wanindu Hasaranga (7).

Among spinners, no player has taken more five-wicket hauls in T20s than Shakib, who has achieved the feat five times. This puts him in joint-second place overall with Lasith Malinga, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Tahir and Shaheen Shah Afridi, who are all trailing David Wiese (7).

One of Shakib's most unforgettable spells came in the inaugural CPL season in 2013 when he ripped through Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel with astonishing figures of 6 for 6. He took another six-wicket haul playing for Prime Bank Cricket Club later in the year in the Victory Day T20 Cup that made him just the second bowler after Ajantha Mendis to claim multiple six-wicket hauls in T20 cricket. A similar feat was later on achieved by Arzan Nagwaswalla in 2023.