Ace Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has made a shocking statement, saying he is not in a "situation to play cricket" and is mentally and physically exhausted.
His statement came days after he was named in both the Test and ODI squads for the upcoming South Africa tour, starting March 18. The all-rounder recently played in a home series against Afghanistan, but he was like "a passenger" during the white-ball series.
As reported by Cricbuzz, Shakib stated: “I have spoken with Papon (Nazmul Hasan - BCB president) and agreed to play, and that is why I was in the team. After the Afghanistan series, I have given it a deep thought because it's immaterial whether I am doing well or not because if I cannot enjoy then that is worrying. Then I am also depriving my teammates.”
The all-rounder further explained, “As far as I am concerned, the mental and physical condition that I am in right now, it is not possible for me to play international cricket. If I get a break and get back the interest then it will be easy for me to play cricket. In the Afghanistan series, I was feeling like a passenger and I don't want to be like that. I could not enjoy the games in T20Is and ODIs.
I tried but it did not happen. I don't think that I should be in South Africa with this mental state. I have spoken with Jalal Yunus, BCB cricket operation chairman, Bhai and he said he will think about it for two days. With this mental state if I am with the team it will be harmful and I will be cheating with my teammates. If I cannot meet up the expectations of my own self and the fans then that will be very sad.”
On his previous decision to take a 6-month break from Tests, Shakib said: “I need a long-term plan as far as my career is concerned. I have seen that I wanted a six-month break from Tests. I did not want to play Test cricket till the T20 WC in Australia and wanted to concentrate on white-ball cricket. Because we have two World Cups, I want to concentrate on white-ball cricket.”
He further said, “I feel we can go far in these two World Cups. That does not imply I wanted to quit Test cricket. I felt if I concentrate on white-ball cricket, I will do better with my physical condition. The problem is I don't know what is there for me and it is difficult to plan on series by series basis.
If I can know the whole year plan then it will be better for me. It is difficult to say about Sri Lanka series because it is tough to say about something that will happen after two months. With a 15 to 20 days break lot of things can change.”
BCB's cricket operation chairman Jalal told Cricbuzz: “He is mentally low and we have asked him to have a short break and afterward tell us how he feels. He did not tell us that he is unavailable for the South Africa series. It is only that he said he is not feeling well both mentally and physically and we asked him to give some time to the family as we feel it will help him get his motivation back. If he officially says he is not available then we will make a decision on him.”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
