Shakib thought that he will get the best cricketer award in 2019 World Cup

Shakib Al Hasan had a dream-like performance in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, scoring 606 runs and taking 11 wickets. In the round-robin format of that World Cup, no other player came close to Shakib's individual performance. Naturally, it was expected that Shakib would be awarded the Player of the Tournament. However, reality was different.

Shakib Al Hasan did not receive the Player of the Tournament award that year. Like many others, Shakib was disappointed with the ICC's decision, though he understood the reality. On Bongo BD's 'Shakib Special World Cup Show,' he said,

"I thought I might get the Player of the Tournament award. I had a little dream, thinking maybe they'll give it to me, maybe they will. But I understood that in reality, it was more likely they wouldn't. I don't think anyone played as dominantly as I did in the 2019 World Cup. Whoever I played against, be it Australia, India, or Pakistan, everyone told me, you played very well, you had a tremendous World Cup. Ravi Shastri, Virat Kohli, everyone praised me a lot."

Despite Shakib's outstanding performance, Bangladesh could not reach the semifinals in the 2019 World Cup. This was the only reason why Shakib did not receive the Player of the Tournament award. The award went to New Zealand's Kane Williamson, who led his team to the semifinals and scored 578 runs in 10 innings throughout the tournament.

Dave Whatmore, who was once the coach of Bangladesh, later became the coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL. At that time, Bangladeshi players were not well-known, so the chances of Shakib playing in the IPL were slim. KKR picked Shakib for their team, and Shakib credited Dave Whatmore for this decision:

"I have to give Dave Whatmore a lot of credit for picking me for the first time. Naturally, he had a love for Bangladesh, and if he hadn't been there, they might not have picked me for that team."