Bangladesh cricket team captain and veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan revealed his retirement plans from international cricket ahead of the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
Shakib hinted that he could retire from all formats of games after the 2025 Champions Trophy. The veteran all-rounder further said that he will resign as the captain of the Bangladesh cricket team after the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023, which will get underway on October 5 in India.
Shakib Al Hasan was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo: “The 2025 Champions Trophy for ODIs and the 2024 T20 World Cup for T20Is. Tests may be sooner. Maybe (after ODI WC). I will retire all at once, but I will stop playing each format one by one. I will announce my retirement after the 2025 Champions Trophy.”
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Speaking about the captaincy, Shakib said: “Given the current reality, I am captain only till the World Cup. Not a day more. I resigned from the captaincy on the 17th (September). I informed Papon bhai (BCB chief Nazmul Hassan) and emailed the CEO that I don’t want to be the captain.”
The senior player further revealed that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the team management needed him, so he agreed to captain the ODI team until the 2023 World Cup.
He added, “The reasons were the same when I didn’t want to captain ahead of the Asia Cup. I don’t think my captaincy is adding value at this stage of my career. I wanted to just bowl my ten overs, give my best in fielding, and do my batting.
The easiest thing to do for me would have been not to take the captaincy. When he offered me the job, I immediately told him I don’t want to do it in this situation. At this age, I didn’t want to take this pressure. I want to smile, enjoy my game, perform for Bangladesh.”
Shakib signed off by saying, “(Papon) described the situation to me. A captain has to do the job on and off the field. When I learned that the BCB, coach and team management were unanimous in their decision about me, then I took the captaincy.”
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
