Bangladesh Cricket Board would be rolling out the central contracts for their players very soon and it has been learnt that all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan would make a return to the list, having missed out last year due to the ICC one year ban. Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who returned to international cricket early this year in January, is also set to be rewarded for his performances with a central contract after three years. The 26-year-old is now in the reckoning to be a long term Tigers prospect.
"Taskin bowled a lot of overs in the Test series against Sri Lanka. He is very much in the ODI plans but if we push him to play all three formats all the time it can be harmful in the long run,” Khaled Mahmud, former Bangladesh captain and Team leader for the Tigers’ on their Sri Lanka tour recently, said about the tall fast bowler, who has picked up 17 wickets since his return to international cricket.
"We need to make a balance somewhere and that is most important if we want long service from players like Taskin," Mahmud added.
The right-handed pacer is aware of BCB plans which sees him more as an out and out attack bowler in longer formats, but Taskin believes that T20 cricket is not out of sight for him either. ''Yes, Nannu Sir (chief selector Minhajul Abedin) spoke with me after the series (two Tests against Sri Lanka),'' said Taskin. ''It is not that I will not play T20Is. It's just that they wanted me to concentrate on Tests and ODIs," he said.
Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury confirmed that the board would soon be rolling out the contracts and there might be an increase of one player from last year’s 17 in the list. The top all-rounder Shakib would be getting an all format, both red and white ball contract as it seems, while the likes of Mahmudullah and Mustafizur Rahman would have to be content with just the white ball contract.
Last year only seven cricketers could get the all-format contract and according to reports, Mushfiqur Rahim was the highest-paid Bangladeshi cricketer.
"In the last board meeting we decided that we will make a final decision regarding how many cricketers are going to be in the central contract in our next board meeting," Cricbuzz quoted Nizamuddin as saying.
Currently, the Bangladesh cricketers are busy with the Dhaka Premier Division T20 tournament, being played in the capital city.