Shakib void being felt

Only three among the current Bangladesh squad touring South Africa have had experience of playing Tests in the country -- Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes. There could have been a fourth, but he withdrew from the tour to rest his mind and body from the demands of continuous cricket. He may have been physically absent, but Shakib Al Hasan was the name ringing out in the pre-match press conferences, both South African and Bangladeshi, yesterday.

"That's a big loss for them. Shakib is a fantastic player. He has been the top all-rounder in the world for quite some time. He is a senior player, and someone who performs well in different conditions. So it will be a huge loss for them," said South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis, before adding with a laugh: "I am very happy that he will not play."

Shakib is singularly crucial in the context of his country's cricket. Very few other players become a two-in-one player for their side to the extent that the left-armer has over the past decade. He is the second-highest run-scorer in Bangladesh cricket history, and the top wicket-taker by a margin of 88. With Shakib in the side, Bangladesh are virtually playing with 12 players, and his absence on such a crucial tour has the coach Chandika Hathurusingha seemingly at a loss.

"You only can play with 11 players, not two," said the coach when asked who he was looking at to fill the gaping hole left by Shakib both in the batting and the bowling. "We are looking at either at a batsman or bowler to replace him. That's the challenge we have. So we will decide tomorrow about the 11. I think Shakib has been scoring a lot of runs lately, probably the [second] highest run-scorer in Test cricket.  That's why we need a batsman at this stage."

Shakib was instrumental in Bangladesh's most memorable recent Test wins -- his bowling against England in October 2016, the victory in the 100th Test in Colombo and the recent win in the first Test against Australia. In fact, Shakib has featured in every one of Bangladesh's 10 Test wins except the first one against Zimbabwe in 2005, before his debut.

"A player of his calibre, everyone is going to miss him. And definitely we don't have another player like him, to replace him will be a big test for us," said Mushfiqur. "He's been playing a lot of cricket. And after the break hopefully he will return fresh and do the same job he has done over the past 10 years. He's been representing our country and he has also been playing in T20 franchises overseas. He has been a great ambassador for Bangladesh, playing overseas, and also I think for that Bangladesh cricket will be known in other parts of the world."

Evidence of that was that, for a change, foreign journalists were asking after a Bangladesh cricketer.