Unshackled Shakeel seamlessly switches between slow burn and turbo

Some days, you get to be on the ground floor of something special.

In 2023, balls against the wall, this reads like a Triassic statistic. An object of curiosity.

“Wow, really? How do hitters who hit in the low 40s stay awake?”

“Do we know much about how they operated?”

“It’s amazing to think that modern hitters evolved from guys like this. Unbelievable.”

Innings with strike rates like 36.65 and 21.91 have a habit of missing.

In Galle, he came in with the score at 67 for 3, soon worsening to 101 for 5. But not long after that, Shakeel was 33 for 53, then 50 for 69, then 64 for 82. Uhhh, is this the same guy? The guy who played the tickets that looked like they were dug up by archaeologists? Is that he slog sweeping hard and flat? Him flitting down the track, making room, firing the left-arm spinner over the deck?

In between, he played a believable impression of the international cricket batsman he previously knew he was. The defense against Quicks was almost always organized, even if his stance was more outspoken than most, though not as outspoken as, say, Fawad Alam, whom he replaced in Pakistan’s batting order, and who also learned his trade in Karachi, but spiritually, he’s from outer space.

Against effect, Shakeel was judicious. Quickly advancing when the bowlers bowled too close, slipping back when the length was short. And most importantly, between the four of them, he picked up the gaps like a master.

Visually, one could say, there isn’t much to recommend his hitting. But he doesn’t seem like the type to care. The whip through the half wicket, the square cut of the hedge, the boring old conventional sweep to the leg side sweep, the kind where the fielder moves towards the ball because even the batsmen know there is only one run there – these are Shakeel’s specialties.

He said it after playing the third day.

Is it because of your training in Karachi that you play so well with spin? he was asked.

“Usually in first-class cricket in Karachi, we don’t get a lot of spin bowling,” he said. “But my strong point is that I like to rotate the strike. You may have noticed that I like to take singles as regularly as possible, and I can find singles on both sides of the pitch. I tried to apply that strength, top-class cricket helps too, but the way I was brought up and learned the game actually helps me a lot more than any top-class cricket I may have played.

Essentially: You can’t fit me into the boxes you use to make sense of the world. I’m original

It’s hard not to love.

But for those of us who need the boxes, Shakeel swept exceptionally well and disposed of when disposal was necessary, which is understood to be Karachibatting stuff. Most predictably of all, he happily reverted to the defensive version of himself when he ran out of hitting partners and only had his tail to work with.

At one point in his innings, in the company of Agha Salman, Shakeel made 83 of 88 deliveries. After Salman was out, Shakeel returned to a simmer, blocking the first balls of each over, turning away singles on offer, pounced only on misdeliveries. His batting partners gamely played the other end. The journey from 100 to 200 took 223 deliveries.

“Big pronouncements are tempting, but in this case it’s important to let the entries breathe. May he rest in his greatness”

Ah OK. Hence is him. There’s our boy.

We don’t know if Shakeel will be Pakistan’s next big hitter, because we don’t make predictions here. We only make observations.

Observations such as reaching the crease during an incredibly difficult period, adopting a batting tactic he had never tried before at Test level, and ordering the tail to spectacular effect this time around.

Whatever the long-term view of his career, even with just this entry, it might be fair to conclude that his ceiling is outrageously high. At the end of his 11th Test innings, Shakeel returned to the dressing room with 208 not out, having faced over four balls on average in the last 44 overs.

Big pronouncements are tempting, but in this case it’s important to let the entries breathe.

May he rest in his greatness.

That those of us who saw it in person wonder a little more if we were really on the ground floor. I wonder how special this something could be.

Let it come together gently, because while for 88 Ball there was the skill and ingenuity to go in an exciting direction, Shakeel seems more at home in the ebb of Test cricket than its flow.

More at home in its sweetness.