On August 11, BCB President Nazmul Hasan said that Shakib Al Hasan will captain Bangladesh in the Asia Cup and World Cup.
“We have named Shakib as Asia Cup and World Cup captain.” Tomorrow, the World Cup and Asia Cup squads will be unveiled. “The selectors will choose a squad of 17 members,” Nazmul told reporters on Friday at his home.
Tamim Iqbal resigned as captain on August 3rd, leaving the position vacant. Despite the fact that Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan remain candidates for the ODI captaincy, CricAdvisor earlier claimed that Shakib was expected to become captain in all three forms until the World Cup.
The BCB president claimed that the board was expected to learn about Shakib’s availability before naming him captain. In preparation for the two international championships, the 36-year-old will take over immediately.
According to Nazmul, Shakib’s long-term standing as the leader across all formats is still unknown. “We haven’t talked about his long-term stewardship with him yet, but we can talk about it once he arrives because we need to know his availability.” Leading three formats may be hard for him, therefore we must speak with him because communicating without doing so is difficult.
“Right now, he’s out of the country, playing for a team (in LPL), and he has some engagements there, so we didn’t want to bother him because he has a game today.” But we’ve decided that he’ll play until the World Cup, and Shakib will be the captain until then.
“After talking with him, we’ll decide whether he’ll lead for a long time across formats or if he’ll leave any format (as captain), and we’ll make that decision after his arrival,” he said.
“There is no doubt about his potential, but what is impressive is that no one has been as serious about cricket as him in the last year, even though I had doubts earlier about whether he was serious or not and what he would play and what he would not,” he remarked.
Nazmul also stated that Litton would continue to serve as vice-captain and take command in Shakib’s absence. Long-term leadership decisions, however, are currently on hold.
“If Shakib al Hasan is unable to play (for whatever reason), vice-captain Liton will lead the side.” If we consider the long term and the future, there were other names like Mehidy Hasan. “Now Mushfiqur is not leading the side because Tamim has stepped down, and when Shakib leaves, what will happen, and other names will also come up,” he explained.
The 36-year-old current Test and T20I skipper has previously led Bangladesh in 50-overs cricket, including in the 2011 World Cup. The selection committee delayed naming the team because the captain’s status was unknown, according to Nazmul.
“They haven’t spoken with me about 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 explained.
“The selectors make a big squad and later take input from the coach and captain, but the problem was that they couldn’t speak with the captain until now and the coach came yesterday,” he concluded.
