There has been a lot of conjecture about whether veteran Bangladeshi player Shakib Al Hasan will play in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, given that he has already missed the current Test series against South Africa and is also unlikely to receive a farewell from the red-ball game at his home ground.
Faruque Ahmed, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, did, however, guarantee that Shakib will be available for the forthcoming ODIs against Afghanistan.
“Since the team (for the three ODIs against Afghanistan) has not yet been announced, it indicates that Shakib Al Hasan is available,” Faruque said, as reported.
Faruque added that he and the BCB did all in their power to get Shakib to retire from the red-ball format at home (with reference to the first Test match against the Proteas). But he also noted that the board had no influence over several important aspects, and that Shakib and the police were better suited to make those decisions.
“Shakib, the government, and the police were [involved].” In this, we play a completely supporting role. I did everything in my power to ensure Shakib could retire at home. However, Shakib was an MP in the previous administration and is more than just a player. There are some feelings expressed there. As a former player, I noticed that a boy who has played cricket for 17 years is a brand ambassador and has done a lot for Bangladesh. I thought it would have been beneficial, but we need to look at the other factors. Given everything, he was unable to appear at the final minute, but the board was unrelated to that, Faruque said.
As of right now, no direct communication has taken place with him: Faruque Ahmed
In response to the popular question of whether Najmul Hossain Shanto will remain captain of Bangladesh after the second Test ended, Faruque was straightforward but forceful in his statement that there should be no communication barriers between the players and the board. In order to address the core of the issue, he also underlined the necessity of a systematic information flow.
Regardless of their feelings, players should be more conscious of this. Not referring to the line of command, I believe there are several actions that might be made, such contacting the President, the CEO, or Cricket Operations. Players should be aware of this, I hope. ‘I don’t want to do it, thank you,’ and walking away is the simplest way to go about things. The simplest choice is that. But if you truly dig to find out why they don’t want to go on, and if there are any underlying problems, you should talk about those. “We will discuss,” Faruque said.
Since his appointment as the administration’s president, Faruque argued, the Bangladesh Premier League has been the main topic of conversation, and he would be interested in speaking with Shanto about it.
Since assuming accountability, we have had to deal with the creation of BPL teams as well as a number of other matters that needed our focus. Only eight or ten of the players showed up, and I only had the opportunity to speak with them once, during which we exclusively talked about the BPL. Tonight, I’m flying to Chattogram in an attempt to meet with the coach, the team, and everyone else. I’m hoping for some sort of result.
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Only until we sit down and have a conversation will I know. Currently, there hasn’t been any direct communication with him,” Faruque said.