Premier allrounder Shakib Al Hasan’s closed-door meeting with BCB president Nazmul Hasan and other board directors and selectors on August 13 ended with the player getting awarded T20I captaincy of the Bangladesh side.
Shakib has been named T20I skipper of the national team for the Asia Cup in UAE, the tri-series in New Zealand and the T20 World Cup in Australia. The great allround cricketer, who was appointed Test captain of Bangladesh during the tour of the Caribbean in July, has now reclaimed leadership in the shortest format as well for a critical period of three months.
This, at a time when there was uncertainty hovering over Shakib’s career as a Bangladesh cricketer following his contentious association and endorsement deal with a betting company. In no uncertain terms, the BCB regime told Shakib to quit the deal immediately or risk putting an end to his playing career at the highest level.
The player subsequently ended his partnership with Betwinner News and got along the lines of BCB officials, who were facing scrutiny for having one of the country’s leading players being associated with a betting company under their watch.
As a reward, the BCB, dismayed by Bangladesh’s disastrous results in the shortest format, has entrusted the nation’s best player to arrest the trend and help the team get on the winning ways.
Shakib has always held a strong voice inside the Bangladeshi changing room, and the board is hoping for that to influence a positive change on the field, although it is pretty clear the national side require deeper changes to their domestic set-up for major transformation.
BCB’s cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus revealed Shakib’s Betwinner deal hogged most of the attention during their meeting with the player. As per Yunus, Shakib told him and other BCB officials that he had been “misguided“ into the endorsement partnership and “vowed” not to repeat the error in the future.
“Shakib admitted his mistake (regarding Betwinner controversy), but he is important for us. He is still our best player. We had already decided on Shakib being the captain earlier, so we are sticking to it,”
Yunus was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“He thought it was an online news website. He felt he was misguided. He has said he has terminated the (Betwinner) contract. We are hopeful he will not repeat it again. We have asked him not to commit such a mistake again. We have ended the whole thing.”
Shakib had missed Bangladesh’s most recent T20I assignment – a three-match series in Zimbabwe, which they lost 2-1 – after opting for a break following the tour of the West Indies.
In his absence, the selectors had named young Nurul Hasan as captain for the three T20Is since regular skipper Mahmudullah had also opted out of the tour. Ultimately, Mosadek Hossain had to lead the side with Hasan getting sidelined after a fractured finger.
The selectors have named a 17-man squad for the Asia Cup in UAE now, with middle-order batters Sabbir Rahman and Mushfiqur Rahim returning to the Shakib-led touring party. There was no place, however, for the injured Litton Das and Shoriful Islam, Munim Shahriar and Najmul Hossain Shanto.
At the Asia Cup, Bangladesh are part of a cut-throat Group B alongside Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. They will kick off their campaign with the fixture against Afghanistan in Sharjah on August 30 and take on Sri Lanka in Dubai on September 1.
From the UAE, Bangladesh will travel to New Zealand for a T20I series, also featuring Pakistan. It will be their final opportunity to make amends in this format ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia.
