Bangladesh’s premier allrounder Shakib Al Hasan is available to play the entire tour of South Africa, including the Tests part of the World Test Championship, after going unsold at the IPL 2022 mega auction recently.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan has claimed Shakib’s agreement to play the pair of Test matches against the Proteas, saying the cricketer has revoked his earlier decision to take a break after finding no buyers among the ten IPL franchises.
Hasan confirmed Shakib had earlier told the BCB via a letter that will not be available for Tests for six months. After missing the New Zealand tour in January, the 34-year-old had planned to also skip the South Africa series and also the scheduled games against Sri Lanka later on.
However, the plan seems to have changed upon his unexpected rejection at the IPL auction where, despite his great utility in either skill, surprisingly no team found Shakib a fit to their plans for the season ahead.
“Shakib gave us a letter saying that he wants a six-month break from Tests. When we asked him, he said that he will miss Tests against South Africa and Sri Lanka because of the IPL. I replied that you have to play against Sri Lanka, to which he agreed.”
“Now that he is not going to the IPL, I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t play the Test series in South Africa. So forget about it. This is no longer in my mind. The IPL was preventing him from playing [the two Test series], but now he will play [both series],”
Nazmul was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Hasan was talking to the media about Shakib following the end of the third one-dayer against Afghanistan on February 28.
The president said while there could be no close discussion with Shakib because of the need to maintain bubble sanctity, the board president said he got a smile and “as you say” from the player when he said he will talk to him further upon return from South Africa.
Currently busy preparing for a pair of T20Is against Afghanistan, Bangladesh will travel to South Africa for 2 Tests and three ODIs, which will be part of the ICC Super League. The Tests, finishing April 11, overlap with the start of the IPL 2022, starting March 26.
