'Does the bowling not work without me?': Shakib's sharp reply when asked about bowling fewer overs than usual
Captain Shakib Al Hasan however was seen not bowling as much as he usually.
Bangladesh managed to win the Mirpur Test against Ireland on Friday by seven wickets and completed a successful home series against the visitors.
After winning the ODI series 2-0, the Tigers won the T20I series 2-1 and have now taken the one-off Test series too.
Captain Shakib Al Hasan however was seen not bowling as much as he usually.
He bowled only 16 overs in the entire Test match whereas his compatriot Taijul Islam bowled 66.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz bowled 45.2 over.
In the first innings, Shakib came on to bowl after 65 overs and bowled only three overs.
In the second innings he bowled 13 overs.
In the post-match press conference, he was asked about his lack of bowling to which he gave a sharp reply.
"There is no explanation in particular for my lack of bowling. It's not a given that I must bowl always. If you have 5-6 weapons available in your arsenal, it's not necessary to use them all," he said.
When asked on the matter further, Shakib replied: "Does this mean that the bowling doesn't have any effect without me?"
Shakib feels Bangladesh have enough bowlers without him that can take 20 wickets in Test cricket.
"We have enough bowlers that have the capability to take 20 wickets and I have faith in them. They have shown what they can do. We played in a wicket we are not used to. I would say it was a really good batting wicket and Mirpur usually doesn't have such wickets. Even today (day 4) the wicket was very good to bat on," the all-rounder explained.
The southpaw feels that having more bowling options is the way to go as that is what top Test teams are doing.
"When you want to take 20 wickets, you have to take more bowling options. There is no substitute to that. You have to play with a defensive mindset when you have fewer bowling options. You think of drawing the game or trying to bat as best as you can then. But when you want to win a Test, you have more bowling options. The top teams like England and Indian have more bowling options. They have 5-6 strike bowlers and six batters," Shakib explained.