Bangladesh Cricket Board Saturday announced Shakib al Hasan as the captain for the Asia Cup 2022 along with a 17-member squad.
Shakib will not only lead Bangladesh in the upcoming Asia Cup but also the Tri-Nation T20 series involving Pakistan and hosts New Zealand in October followed by the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Inclusion of middle-order batter Sabbir Rahman in the Asia Cup squad has been the biggest surprise.
The right-hander is back in the national fold after three years having last played for Bangladesh in September 2019.
The decision from the BCB came following an extensive meeting with Shakib at president Nazmul Hasan’s residence Saturday.
The meeting involving Nazmul and other influential members of the board initially discussed on Shakib’s latest controversy - the cricketer’s involvement with a betting organization.
BCB cricket operations committee chairman Jalal Younus while speaking to the media following the meeting said Shakib was apologetic for his involvement with Betwinner News, a concern of Betwinner dot com – a betting and gambling platform.
Jalal further informed that Shakib gave assurance of being careful going ahead and took the charge of the T20I team for the short term.
“Shakib will lead Bangladesh T20I team in Asia Cup, Tri-Nation series in New Zealand and in the T20 World Cup. The board had already made a decision on this. [Saturday] we had a discussion on it and handed him the charge. We will rethink the T20I captaincy following the T20 World Cup,” said Jalal.
Speaking of Shakib’s issue with the board on endorsing a concern of a betting organization, Jalal said, “We also had discussion on that. Shakib understood his mistake. He said he went ahead with the endorsement thinking it is just a news portal and he moved out from it after he was explained.”
The Bangladesh squad for the Asia Cup T20 set to take place in United Arab Emirates later this month saw the omission of opener Munim Shahriar, top-order batter Nazmul Hossain Shanto and seamer Shariful Islam from the last T20I team that played in the just concluded tour of Zimbabwe.
Wicketkeeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir and all-rounder Saifuddin have come back to the fold while fast bowler Ebadat Hossain was given his maiden call in the format.
Chief of the national selection panel Minhajul Abedin while explaining Sabbir’s sudden inclusion said it was based on the cricketer’s experience though one can argue that the middle-order batter did not have a notable performance recently.
In the last edition of the Bangladesh Premier League T20 earlier this year, Sabbir before getting dropped played six matches for Chattogram Challengers and scored 109 runs with an average of 18.18 and a strike of 111.32.
“Sabbir has been picked based on his experience in T20 cricket both in domestic and international. It was a combined decision involving the team management. We have injury concerns in the dressing room and thus need to keep an additional middle-order batter. He is currently touring the West Indies with the A team and will thus get the match experience and he has also been under nursing with the A team and Bangladesh Tigers program,” said Minhajul.
Stumper-batter Nurul Hasan despite undergoing surgery on his fractured finger recently has been kept part of the squad.
“Nurul’s latest update is the doctors will reassess his condition on August 21. We kept him in the squad so that he can play if he recovers by the time the tournament starts,” said Minhajul.
Bangladesh squad for Asia Cup 2022
Shakib al Hasan [captain], Anamul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Saifuddin, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mahedi Hasan Miraz, Ebadat Hossain, Parvez Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed
