Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hasan said on Monday, 28 February that star all rounder Shakib Al Hasan will be available for selection in the South Africa Test series.
Hasan revealed that Sahakib was asked to play for the national team after he wasn’t picked in the Indian Premier League and the all rounder agreed. Hasan’s statement comes right after BCB’s announcement that they want to have a conversation with Shakib and know what his individual plans are for the remainder of the year. The star all rounder earlier wanted to take a break from international cricket to prepare for the Indian Premier League and now that has gone flying out of the window, Shakib has considered coming back to the longest format of the game.
Late last year, Shakib had said that he wanted to take a break from Test cricket to focus on the other formats, but then later clarified that his statements were miscommunicated. He clarified his position that he wanted to focus on IPL and get his personal preparation done before the cash rich league.
Shakib has been a pivotal player for Bangladesh for many many years, but in recent times has come under fire from the statement-heavy BCB president. Many times, Hasan has indirectly fired shots at Shakib and Mustafizur Rahman for prioritising IPL over national duties.
Bangladesh are currently playing Afghanistan in the ODI series - one that they have won by the margin of 2-1, they will now move on to the more important two-match T20I series to test out their preparations ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.