Home ›› 14 Aug 2022 ›› Sport
Shakib Al Hasan has been appointed as the captain of the Bangladesh national team for Twenty20 Internationals for the third time as Bangladesh Cricket Board revealed their 17-man squad for the upcoming Asia Cup in UAE.
Sabbir Rahman returned to the T20I side after almost three years, while Ebadot Hossain was picked for the shortest format for the first time. Mohammad Saif Uddin also returned to the side after battling a back injury, while Nurul Hasan Sohan has been named in the squad despite his injury.
Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shoriful Islam, and Munim Shahriar were dropped from the recent T20I series against Zimbabwe.
Shakib was named captain on Saturday following a meeting at the house of the BCB President Nazmul Hassan, where Cricket Operations Chairman Jalal Yunus, the national selectors, board directors, and Shakib himself was present.
“We have the Asia Cup, the tri-series in New Zealand, and then the T20 World Cup in Australia. We had a decision about the captaincy after the last board meeting, and was discussed again today in the presence of the BCB president and selectors. We have appointed Shakib as the captain until the World Cup,” Jalal said.
Shakib was first appointed the skipper of the national T20I side in 2009 and continued until 2011. Then in 2017, after Mashrafe Mortaza retired from the format, he was handed the armband again and served as skipper until he was banned for a year by the International Cricket Council for not reporting corrupt approaches.
In his two tenures, Shakib led the team in 21 matches, winning seven and losing 14.
He was set to be appointed as the new T20I captain earlier this month. But his endorsement deal with Betwinner News, a sports portal and surrogate company of betting site Betwinner, saw BCB double guess their decision as it violated their policies.
But Jalal on Saturday informed that Shakib had accepted his mistake and that he will not repeat it.
“Shakib has realised his mistake that he shouldn’t have done the deal. Shakib is very important for us. He accepted that he agreed to the deal because thinking it was a sports portal, which was not right, and moved away once he understood it. He said he has already terminated the deal,” Jalal said.
Shakib also did not take permission from BCB to sign the deal with Betwinner News, and Jalal informed that it will be discussed in the next board meeting.
“We talked about it too. As he signed an endorsement deal without our permission, we will talk about it in our next board meeting,” he said.
BCB is yet to name a vice-captain for the team, and BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin said that they had a name ready but would announce it later. He added that there were four stand-by players but refused to name them.
Regarding Sabbir and Ebadot, Minhajul said they considered Sabbir’s international experience and Ebadot’s performance in the recent seasons of the Bangladesh Premier League.
“We have to consider the players’ international experience sometimes. We have several injury issues right now, so we needed a middle-order batsman. We have sent him (Sabbir) to West Indies to play One-Day matches. He will get some international exposure there and hopefully will use the experience,” Minhajul said.
Ebadot picked up 14 wickets in the 2019-20 season of the BPL and picked up six in the five matches he played in 2021.
Former T20I skipper Mahmudullah Riyad was in line to be axed considering his struggles with the bat, but Minhajul said they prioritised experience.
“Asia Cup is a big tournament. We need experience there,” the chief selector said regarding Mahmudullah.
Nurul, the captain in the T20I series against Zimbabwe before getting injured, will undergo another operation on his fractured finger on August 21 and is still a doubt for the Asia Cup, but has been named as Minhajul was hopeful about his availability.
