Ace Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib-Al-Hasan has recently expressed his desire to step down as national Test captain, but he is yet to officially discuss anything with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), confirmed by BCB president Nazmul Hasan on Wednesday (September 11).
Hasan also admitted that Shakib has less interest about playing Test cricket, but at the same time, feels the all-rounder is the best possible man to continue to lead the Tigers in the longest format of the game.
Shakib had told a Bengali Daily: “Mentally I am not prepared for it (leadership role). But I understand that to get the team into a good shape, it would be better if I am around and performing well.”
And even after Bangladesh’s embarrassing 224-run defeat in one-off Test against Afghanistan at home, Shakib repeated that he was not too comfortable with Test captaincy, which raised questions about him leading the Test side, but BCB official said they are not officially aware of his unwillingness about it.
The BCB chief told media on Wednesday, “Even yesterday I had a meeting at home with some of the senior cricketers that included Shakib, and he did not speak anything formally with me regarding captaincy. However, this is a fact that he is quite reluctant to play Test cricket.”
He continued, “We have seen it in the last few years that when our team go abroad for away Test series, Shakib often asks for a break. So, naturally, he must have little interest to play Test cricket. But personally, we have not heard anything from him about his unwillingness regarding Test captaincy. However, when you are the captain, you will have to play. While this may not be the case if you are not leading the side. So, probably, for this reason, talks regarding his captaincy came up. He has given a lot of service to Bangladesh cricket, and he is our best possible option as Test captain at the moment.”
Meanwhile, the Tigers will now be involved in a Tri-nation T20 series at home involving Afghanistan and Zimbabwe starting from September 13, and Nazmul said if Shakib had an issue with leading the Test side he would have discussed at the meeting so they can't make any comment on the same at the moment.
He signed off by saying, “If he had raised the issue about not continuing as Test captain then we might have discussed it. There is an international series ongoing at the moment. So, it is too early to call on the issue.”
(With Dhaka Tribune Inputs)
