Hours after Shakib Al Hasan said he would like to retire from Test cricket after the first game against South Africa in Mirpur next month if he is given a ‘secure passage’ to leave the country, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) made it clear that it does not have the powers to give him any such assurances.
“It’s up to the interim government to decide,” BCB president Faruque Ahmed told Sportstar from Dhaka on Thursday.
“We are a sports governing body and don’t have the power to give any sort of security assurances to anyone. At the most, we can request the government to consider the matter, but we can’t really promise anything,” Ahmed, who took over as the head of the BCB last month, following the resignation of Najmul Hasan Papon, added.
Earlier in the day, Shakib dropped a bombshell while addressing the media on the eve of the second Test against India, by announcing his retirement from Test and T20Is. “I have informed the BCB about my wish to end my Test career in Mirpur, and they’ve agreed in principle. They are also trying to arrange everything, so that I can play my last Test at home feeling safe. They have assured me that they will work in tandem with all the authorities and let me know their decision soon so that I can not only play freely but also can leave the country safely, post the series,” Shakib, an erstwhile Member of the Parliament, said.
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Amid the political turmoil in Bangladesh, Shakib was among 147 people named in a murder case in Dhaka last month. Even though Shahryar Nafees, the in-charge of BCB’s cricket operations, recently said that the country’s caretaker government had clarified that Shakib would not be ‘harassed’ upon his return to Bangladesh, the Board president said it was ‘up to Shakib’ to decide.
“The murder case is still sub-judice and it is not possible for the BCB to do anything in this regard, since we are not a party to it,” Ahmed said. “I had long conversations with Shakib over the last couple of days and I told him the same thing. While we unanimously decided that we should now look at youngsters and groom them, ultimately Shakib will have to decide if he wants to play his last game in Bangladesh. We will try and put in a word to the interim government, but we really cannot do anything beyond that…”
Sources have confirmed to this publication that Shakib has also conveyed to the current regime that he will only play one Test match in Bangladesh and then move to the US to be with his family. But now, with the BCB distancing itself, the Kanpur Test could well be Shakib’s last outing in red-ball cricket.
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