Joy Bhattacharjya recounts a delightful incident involving Shakib Al Hasan on his birthday

Bangladesh cricket captain Shakib Al Hasan addresses the media during the Bangladesh Captains’ Press Conference on February 8, 2011 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Bangladesh cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, who represents Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, is 27 years old today. Wishing him on his birthday, KKR team director Joy Bhattacharjya recounted a fascinating incident relating to the all-rounder that describes his character the best.

Happy birthday to one of my favourite cricketers, Shakib @moina2 . My favourite story about him https://t.co/BvrV3ftWjj

— joybhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) March 24, 2014

With permission from Mr. Bhattacharjya, we bring it to you:

“It’s Shakib Al Hasan’s birthday, and he has to be one of the most amazing guys I have met. He was advised not to take a board exam as he had returned(after playing a match winning knock against India) just 17 days before the exam. He came back, studied 18 hours a day and got a reasonably respectable score.

But the defining Shakib story is 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 and I was congratulating him on his restraint when I saw a waiter just behind pushing a trolley full of Reebok gear. We both had a huge laugh!

The story does not end there. A few days later I found out that most of the shoes were for his teammates in the Bangladesh team and a few other promising cricketers, and every time Shakib travelled abroad he would buy loads of stuff for them. Quite a guy!”