Shakib available for Afghanistan series: BCB president
Bangladesh Cricket Board President Faruque Ahmed on Wednesday said that Shakib Al Hasan is available for the upcoming three-match ODIs against Afghanistan. The series is scheduled to start in the UAE from November 6 with the next two games slated respectively on 9 and 11. Cricbuzz recently reported that Shakib was in the dark regarding playing the ODIs against Afghanistan.
"Regarding Shakib Al Hasan, since the team (for the three ODIs against South Africa) has not been given yet, it means he is available," Faruque told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday before heading for an important board meeting.
Faruque added that the board was not involved in any way as far as preventing Shakib from returning home to play his last Test against South Africa. "The first thing is that you said that he couldn't play his last Test here but we are completely uninvolved with that situation. The law enforcement forces, the government and Shakib were [involved]. We are totally an auxiliary part in this. Personally, I tried my level best so that Shakib can get his retirement at home," Faruque said.
"But Shakib is not just a player, he was an MP under the last government. There are some sentiments there. Overall, the government's thoughts and the cricket board's were not the same. As a former player I saw that a boy played cricket for 17 years, he is a brand ambassador, he has done lot for Bangladesh and I believed it would have been good," he said.
"But we have to see the other things. Considering all that, he could not arrive in the last minute but the board had nothing to do with it. It is completely law related and a matter for the law enforcement agencies. It was up to Shakib and the law enforcement agencies and the board had nothing to do about it," he said.
"For the board, if he had arrived, we would try to give him as much security as our powers allow us. Since he didn't come, there is no point talking about it," he added.
Faruque, who will fly to Chattogram to watch the ongoing Test match between Bangladesh and South Africa, added that he will meet with Najmul Hossain to know why he wants to quit from his captaincy after the home series against South Africa.
Cricbuzz reported earlier that Najmul is unwilling to continue as captain after the second Test against the visitors and he informed the board regarding his decision.
"I don't know if Najmul has spoken with you... Sometimes social media news can affect them. Players actually need to be more aware of this, whatever they feel about it... Not about chain of command, I think there are a number of steps that could be taken, such as reaching out to Cricket operations, the CEO, or the president," Faruque said.
"I hope players will be mindful of this. If any player feels he can't continue, then that's a personal matter. If there's any such request, then we'll discuss it," he said.
"The easiest option is if someone simply says, 'I don't want to do it, thank you,' and leaves. That's the easiest option. But if you really dig down to understand why they don't want to continue, and whether there are any underlying reasons, it's important to discuss those issues. We will talk.
Since taking on responsibility, we've had to handle forming BPL teams and several other issues that required our attention. I only got the chance to talk to the players once, and only 8-10 of them came, where we discussed about BPL only. I'll be flying to Chattogram tonight to try to meet with the team, the coach, and everyone. Hopefully, there will be some outcome," he said.
"I can't understand anything unless I sit with him. You can't make decisions based on reading newspapers. If I sit with him, I will know whether there's an issue, or he doesn't want to continue... I won't know until we sit down together and talk. At this moment, there hasn't been any conversation with him directly," he said.
Source: Cricbuzz
