BCB Confirms Shakib Al Hasan's Availability For South Africa Tests After Going Unsold In IPL 2022 Auction
Published - 01 Mar 2022, 02:01 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:05 AM
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan has confirmed that veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will be available to play the Test series against South Africa at the end of this month.
Shakib missed the Test series in New Zealand in January as BCB granted him paternity leave for the entire tour. He recently played for Bangladesh in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan at home, he scored 60 runs and scalped five wickets in those three games.
Shakib Al Hasan will be playing the Tests in South Africa: BCB
Shakib had earlier informed the board that he would be unavailable to play red-ball cricket for at least six months as he was expecting to participate in the IPL 2022 but wasn’t picked in the auction. Nazmul Hassan said Shakib will travel to South Africa to play a couple of Tests that starts on March 31.
“Shakib will be playing the Tests in South Africa. He had given us a letter that he wanted to skip Test cricket for six months due to the IPL, but we asked him to be available for the home series against Sri Lanka and he agreed,” the BCB president said, as reported by Cricbuzz.
“He wanted to skip the series as he wanted to play in the IPL but now since he is not going [for IPL], he will play travel to South Africa. Today I told him that I will talk with him regarding his future plans after he returns from South Africa, and he’s agreed,” he added.
We will ask Shakib Al Hasan for his plan for this year: Jalal Yunus
Nazmul’s proclamation came just hours after BCB cricket operation Jalal Yunus talked about discussing the all-rounder’s future with Test cricket. Jalal said no player is forced to play each and every game for the Bangladesh national team.
“Basically we will ask him for his plan for this year. There have been media reports that he doesn’t want to play Tests, but we know that he wants to play Tests. It’s not a matter of pick and choose. He might have some problems, so we will consider him if he tells us that he wants to play a certain number of matches in a format,” Jalal said.
“Nobody is bound to play every match. The BCB is not an organization where we consider players as mere employees. They are also stakeholders. They have the freedom to discuss how many matches they want to play,” he added.
Bangladesh will tour South Africa for three ODI matches followed by a couple of Tests. The tour will commence on March 18 with the first ODI to be played at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
Also Read: BAN vs AFG: Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim Return To Bangladesh T20I Squad
