Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan in action during a Test match (File photo)
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan is hopeful that all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will be playing the Test series against South Africa, after going unsold during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, mega auctions.
Hassan reported that Shakib had earlier cited IPL 2022 as the reason to miss the Test series against the Proteas.
"Shakib gave us a letter saying that he wants a six-month break from Tests. When we asked him, he said that he will miss Tests against South Africa and Sri Lanka because of the IPL. I replied that you have to play against Sri Lanka, to which he agreed. Now that he is not going to the IPL, I don't see any reason why he shouldn't play the Test series in South Africa. So forget about it. This is no longer in my mind. The IPL was preventing him from playing [the two-Test series], but now he will play [both series]," said Nazmul Hassan.
"Any player can refuse to play any format. I have no problem with that. But they have to tell me. He told me [that he doesn't want to play Tests against South Africa and Sri Lanka] due to the IPL. Now that it (participation in the IPL) is not happening, I don't see any other option," he added.
Meanwhile, BCB's cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus said that no player is bound to play every match as the board does not consider the players as 'mere employees'.
"It is not a matter of pick and choose. He might have some problems, so we will consider him if he tells us that he wants to play a certain number of matches in a format," said Jalal Yunus.
"Nobody is bound to play every match. The BCB is not an organisation where we consider players as mere employees. They are also stakeholders. They have the freedom to discuss how many matches they want to play," he added.
Shakib had last missed the Test series against New Zealand in January, citing personal reasons to leave any series for the third time. Earlier, he had missed the South Africa tour in 2017-18 and then the Sri Lanka Tests last year due to his IPL commitments.
- Reported by ANI
