Former KKR team director shares incredible story about Shakib on his birthday

Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has just turned 36 and on his birthday, quizzer, cricket expert and former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team director Joy Bhattacharjya shared an incredible story about him from 2012, Shakib's second Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

In a Twitter thread, Bhattacharjya called him "one of the most interesting cricketers around" and mentioned that Shakib studied 18 hours a day after returning from a maiden World Cup in 2007 and passed the HSC examination with a respectable score.

"It's Shakib Al Hasan's birthday, and he has to be one of the most interesting cricketers around.  In 2007,  he returned after playing a match winning World Cup knock against India just 17 days before a board exam. He studied 18 hours a day and got a reasonably respectable score," he wrote.

But Bhattacharjya shared his favourite Shakib story later as he revealed that the all-rounder used to get "loads of stuff" for his teammates and other promising cricketers every time he travelled abroad.

"But my favourite defining Shakib story is from 2012 when I saw him returning from a Reebok store visit. Most cricketers came back with 6 -7 packages full of shoes and other stuff. He came back with just one box in his hands.

I was congratulating him on his restraint when I saw a bellboy just behind  pushing a trolley full of Reebok gear. We both had a huge laugh! The story does not end there though," he continued. 

"A few days later I found out that most of the shoes were for teammates in the Bangladesh team and other promising cricketers. Those were the days where few cricket leagues were around & every time Shakib travelled abroad he would get loads of stuff for them. Quite a guy!"

Shakib will once again don the KKR shirt this season and this time he will have another compatriot - Litton Das - playing for the team.