The decision to name Shakib as the captain comes after days of uncertainty over captaincy following Tamim Iqbal’s injury
Bangladesh Cricket Board has appointed Shakib Al Hasan as the captain for the upcoming Asia Cup, the home ODI series against New Zealand, and fifty-over World Cup in India in October.
The decision comes after days of uncertainty following Tamim Iqbal’s injury which led to a search for a new captain ahead of the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup as the board felt that Litton Das who is the vice-captain of the team, was not the right choice to lead the team in the multi-nation event in India.
BCB was keen on roping in Shakib to fulfill the captain’s role since Tamim has been nursing an injury and the board has been successful in convincing the experienced all-rounder to lead the team at least till the World Cup.
Familiar Territory
Reacting to Shakib’s appointment the president of BCB Nazmul Hassan said “Shakib Al Hasan is the captain for the Asia Cup, New Zealand series, and World Cup.” “We will speak more to him when he returns to Bangladesh [from Lanka Premier League]. We have to know his long-term plan. I spoke to him on the phone yesterday.
But it is better if we talk to him in person since he is busy with a franchise league currently. We will also talk about which format he will keep leading, whether it is all three formats or one or two of them.
“There was never any confusion. I told you before. He is the obvious choice. Who else can lead? But we had to talk to him before appointing him. Nobody should think anything else. Shakib is the captain. He was always the main choice. “Hassan further said that the Asia Cup squad will be the same as the World Cup squad. “They have just one spot open. We still don’t know about Tamim Iqbal who is recovering from a back injury. We might trial one or two openers in the Asia Cup,” he said.
The Timeline
As of now, Shakib is leading Bangladesh in all three formats having been appointed as the captain in both Test and T20 last year. Shakib first led the team in 2009 till 2011 and has since come in as a standing captain for Mashrafe Mortaza who led the team in the 2015 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
Shakib again came in as captain and led the team in three ODIs from 2015 to 2017 each time standing in for Mashrafe Murtaza. The last of his 52 ODIs as captain came in 2017.
