The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officially announced Shakib Al Hasan as the T20 format captain, putting an end to all rumors.
According to BCB Cricket Operations Chairman Jalal Younus, he will lead the team through the T20 World Cup, which will be contested in Australia in October-November.
The T20 World Cup, the tri-nation T20 series in New Zealand, and the Asia Cup, commencing at the end of this month, will all be led by Shakib, who is also the Test captain.
“Shakib Al Hasan will lead the side in T20 format until the T20 World Cup. After a lengthy meeting today, we had taken this decision. He will lead the side in the upcoming Asia Cup, then in tri-nation series in New Zealand and in World Cup,” Younus said here today.
Shakib however was the first choice to be the T20 captain after the Bangladesh team went through a severely bad patch in this format under the captaincy of Mahmudullah Riyad.
Nurul Hasan Sohan led the side in Zimbabwe in the T20 series as Shakib chose to skip that series.
However, as he was about to be named as captain in the shortest format of cricket, the ace all-rounder sparked another controversy by striking a deal with Betwinner news, a sister concern of betting company Betwinner.
The deal, which is thought to be worth BDT 10 crore, not only infuriated his supporters but also BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon to the point where the BCB chief threatened to remove him from Bangladesh’s cricket unless he canceled the agreement. This is because betting is completely prohibited in Bangladesh and under BCB law.
Shakib reneged on the deal after receiving a harsh warning from the BCB, and he also removed the relevant post from his social media account.
Shakib, who returned to Bangladesh from the USA on Friday night met BCB boss at his residence in Gulshan today (Saturday). Team Director Khaled Mahmud Sujon, Cricket Operations Chairman Jalal Yunus and two selectors Minhajul Abedin Nannu and Habibul Bashar Sumon were also present during the meeting.
Shakib clarified his position and regretted for the mistakes he had done.
