Bangladesh great Shakib Al Hasan on Monday (June 17) struck a magnificent ton to help his side chase down West Indies' 321 at Taunton in World Cup 2019. The all-rounder batted outstanding well at No.3 for his second hundred (124*) of the tournament, following 121 versus England, and was deservingly awarded "Player-of-the-Match" for keeping Bangladesh's semi-final hopes alive after five games. 

"It's obviously one of the best, because the way we chased that run, the way I paced the innings, I was never in a rush. I didn't have to play too many shots from a good ball," Shakib himself told reporters after the game. 

"I had to be patient. And I was patient enough to put the bad ball away. I think every time I did that quite well. And it's one of the key things in my batting in this chase."

Ireland's 329/7 against England in 2011 stood as the biggest World Cup run chase before this one. But Shakib insisted Bangladesh never felt it can't overhaul the stiff target at the halfway mark. 

"At the end of the first innings in the dressing room, no one felt that this was tough. Everyone was comfortable and was chilling. It gave a lot of confidence in the dressing room and belief that we could chase that run."

"Once we started batting, I think the way the openers started their innings, everyone in the dressing room felt good and comfortable and relaxed. That helped us a lot. So at no point in time, we had to panic," added Shakib, who now sits at the top of the run-scorers chart with 384 runs at an average of 128.00 and a strike-rate 103.78. He also became just the second player to score 6,000 career ODI runs for the Tigers after Tamim Iqbal. 

"I don't know if this is the best I have been batting or not, but so far it's going well and fingers crossed, hope it continues," he concluded.

Bangladesh, with two wins, two losses and a rain-abandoned draw, is positioned fifth in the points table and next plays Australia on Thursday (June 20) at Trent Bridge. 

(Inputs from AFP)