Shakib notches another extraordinary feat with five-for against Australia

Shakib Al Hasan has celebrated his 50th Test in style with a brilliant display of left-arm spin bowling to secure a glittering feat few have accomplished before.

Personal milestones rarely move Shakib but he was really looking forward to this one, as were the fans and followers of Bangladesh cricket.

His 5-68 against Australia on Monday not only helped Bangladesh secure a valuable first-innings lead, but also made sure he has five-wicket hauls against nine Test-playing nations.

It means he has five-wicket hauls against all the teams playing the illustrious format, barring newcomers Ireland and Afghanistan, who received their Test statuses only in June.

If Shakib gets the opportunity to play against these two before he retires, he may even complete the circle.

In fact, the Mirpur Test is Shakib’s first five-day game against the Aussies.

The allrounder signed up beside Muttiah Muralitharan, Dale Steyn and Rangana Herath with the feat, but he excelled the rest in one aspect -- the number of Tests the others needed to achieve it. Muralitharan needed 66 Tests while Steyn and Herath did it in 75.

The 30-year-old southpaw had to wait a while after grabbing three wickets midway through the second session. The Australian lower order then put up defiant resistance for the last two wickets.

But in the first over after tea, Shakib got the breakthrough by taking out Pat Cummins which ended a stubborn 49-run ninth wicket stand.

Ashton Agar frustrated the hosts with an unbeaten 41 but Shakib dismissed Josh Hazlewood to complete the feat and hand Bangladesh a 43-run lead.

Shakib’s first five-for came against New Zealand in 2008 on his seventh Test when he returned 7-36. Since then he has landed 15 more five-wicket hauls.

He has grabbed fifers five times against Zimbabwe, twice each against England, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and South Africa, and once against Australia, India and Pakistan each.

Among his 16 hauls, 12 times he has taken five wickets at home. He did it twice in South Africa and once in West Indies and England each.

And the latest achievement came a day after he joined forces with Tamim Iqbal to rescue Bangladesh from a top-order collapse with the bat, justifying his status as the world's top-ranked Test allrounder.

It is the eighth occasion Shakib has scored a half-century and bagged five wickets in a Test innings. Only English legend Ian Botham is above him here with 11 such exploits.

Another 1980s great, New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee follows Shakib with six instances of a half-century and a five-wicket haul in the same Test.