BCB President Nazmul Hasan affirmed on August 11 that Shakib Al Hasan will be Bangladesh’s ODI captain during the Asia Cup and World Cup.
“We have appointed Shakib as the captain for Asia Cup and World Cup. The World Cup and Asia Cup squad will be announced tomorrow. The selectors will pick a squad of 17 members,” Nazmul told reporters at his house on Friday.
The position became vacant on August 3 when Tamim Iqbal decided to stand down as captain. CricAdvisor had previously reported that Shakib was anticipated to become captain across all three formats until the World Cup, despite the fact that Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan remained candidates for the ODI captaincy.
Before appointing Shakib as captain, the BCB president insisted that the board was expecting to learn about his availability. The 36-year-old will take over immediately in preparation for the two international tournaments.
The long-term status of Shakib as the leader across all formats, as stated by Nazmul, is currently uncertain. “We haven’t discussed his long-term stewardship with him, but we can discuss it after he arrives because we need to know his availability. Leading three formats may be stressful for him, so we must speak with him because it is difficult to communicate without doing so.
“Now he is away from the country and playing for a team (in LPL) and he has some engagements there, so we did not want to disturb him because today he has a game. But what we have decided is that till the World Cup he is playing and till that time Shakib is the captain.
“After talking with him, we will decide whether he will lead for long period across format or he will leave any format (as captain) and we will take a decision in this regard after his arrival,” he said.
“There is no question about his potential but what is impressive is that during the last one year no one is as serious regarding cricket as him, though I had doubts earlier whether he was serious or not and what he will play and what he will not,” he said.
Nazmul also affirmed that Litton would continue to serve as vice-captain and would assume command in the event of Shakib’s absence. Nevertheless, long-term leadership decisions are currently on pause.
“If Shakib al Hasan doesn’t play (for any reason) the vice-captain Liton will lead the side. There were other names like Mehidy Hasan if we think about long-term keeping the future in mind. Now Mushfiqur doesn’t lead the side while Tamim just stepped down and when Shakib leaves the post what will happen and at that point other names will also come up,” he said.
The current Test and T20I captain, who is 36 years old, has previously lead Bangladesh in 50-overs cricket, including at the 2011 World Cup. Nazmul clarified that the selection committee deferred identifying the team because the captain’s status was uncertain.
“They haven’t spoken with me when they will announce the squad but they are expected to announce the squad tomorrow and the problem was that unless there is a captain and without consulting with the captain it is difficult to name the squad,” he said.
“The selectors make a big squad and later take inputs of coach and captain but the problem was that they could not speak with the captain till now and the coach came yesterday, but I feel tomorrow they will announce the squad,” he concluded.
