BCB wants to know Shakib's plan for next one year
"Some of you have reported that he is not interested in playing Tests, but we know he does. How many Tests he wants to play remains a question. He needs to make it clear, and it's not only about the upcoming South Africa tour. We will sit with him after the ODI series and ask for his plan for the next one year," Jalal Yunus said.
Shakib Al Hasan has been missing Test cricket on a regular basis for the past few years. Even though he mentioned in 2017 that he wants to play Test cricket as much as possible, this has never been the case since that South Africa tour four years back.
Among the last nine Tests that Bangladesh played, Shakib missed six of them. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon claimed earlier that Shakib doesn't want to play the red-ball game anymore.
Bangladesh will tour South Africa in March and Shakib had already asked for a leave from the Test series of the tour. He was supposed to leave the team after the ODI series for IPL duties. Since he didn't get picked in the IPL auction earlier this month, another discussion will take place.
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Now BCB will ask him his plan for the next year so that the team management can plan accordingly, BCB CEO Jalal Yunus told media personnel at ZACS on Monday.
"Some of you have reported that he is not interested in playing Tests, but we know he does. How many Tests he wants to play remains a question. He needs to make it clear, and it's not only about the upcoming South Africa tour. We will sit with him after the ODI series and ask for his plan for the next one year," Jalal Yunus said.
BCB CEO also mentioned Shakib asked for a six-month leave from Test cricket before the IPL auction but the board had a meeting with him where he decided to play Sri Lanka series after skipping the Tests in South Africa.
"But that was before the IPL auction. Since he is not going to the IPL, the board president will have a chat with him. We have to wait till then," he added.
Shakib returned to cricket against West Indies at home in 2021 after a one-year ban. Despite playing in the ODI series, he missed the second Test against due to injury. The southpaw then missed a two-match Test tour of Sri Lanka in April due to the IPL.
Despite playing the only Test against Zimbabwe in July, the premier all-rounder did not play the first Test against Pakistan in November. He also missed the two-match Test series in New Zealand due to family reasons.
