Bangladesh veteran and former captain Shakib Al Hasan had hinted at taking a call on his international career after Champions Trophy 2025 in September last year. But he doesn't have plans to quite any time soon it seems as the all-rounder is hoping to play another T20 World Cup in 2026 that will take place in India and Sri Lanka. Shakib is one of the only two players (Rohit Sharma being the other), to feature in all nine T20 World Cups and many felt it could be his last mega event in the shortest format.
However, the left-handed all-rounder is already entertaining plans to play next T20 World Cup scheduled in 2026. At the same time though, the man is focusing on contributing for Bangladesh in the upcoming tournament and hopes that the team does well in the mega event. "Firstly, when I started I didn't expect that I will play for so long and secondly since the start of T20 Cricket World Cup till this T20 World Cup, I have participated in all them along with Rohit Sharma. It is a matter of pride for me and I'm happy that I could represent the country.
"Me and Rohit Sharma are the only two players who played all the T20 World Cups and I hope that I can play another World Cup but before that would like to perform well in the tournament and Bangladesh can do better than previous T20 tournament," Shakib said in a video uploaded on BCB's Facebook page. With his family based there, USA can be called Shakib's second home and believes Bangladesh can do well in the tournament with conditions favouring them. However, the team is coming off a a shocking series defeat by 2-1 in the three-match series against the USA.
"It is alright that USA is my second home but it is difficult to say but I think we will get that because earlier when we played in West Indies and America we did well and we played in Florida we did well," Shakib further added.
