Following Tamim Iqbal’s retirement as Bangladesh ODI captain, the BCB president appoints Shakib Al Hasan as the captain of the side for the upcoming big events. He will also lead the team in the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand.
Shakib Named as Bangladesh’s Captain for Asia Cup 2023
Shakib Al Hasan has been appointed as Bangladesh’s Captain again and will lead the team in Asia Cup 2023 and World Cup 2023. Shakib takes over the captaincy after Tamim Iqbal decides to step down as ODI captain after he was ruled out of the Asia Cup owing to a back injury.
Shakib will be taking over Bangladesh at a critical time, with Asia Cup to begin within a month followed by a home ODI series against New Zealand in September. Then, Bangladesh’s side will travel to India for ODI World Cup on October 5.
Bangladesh Cricket Board president made this announcement in a media conference at his residence in Dhaka.
“Shakib Al Hasan is the captain for the Asia Cup, New Zealand series, and World Cup,” he said. “We will speak more to him when he returns to Bangladesh [from Lanka Premier League]. We have to know his long-term plan. I spoke to him on the phone yesterday.
But it is better if we talk to him in person since he is busy with a franchise league currently. We will also talk about which format he will keep leading, whether it is all three formats or one or two of them.
“There was never any confusion. I told you before. He is the obvious choice. Who else can lead? But we had to talk to him before appointing him. Nobody should think anything else. Shakib is the captain. He was always the main choice.”
Hassan further said that the Asia Cup squad will be the same as the World Cup squad. “They have just one spot open. We still don’t know about Tamim Iqbal who is recovering from a back injury. We might trial one or two openers in the Asia Cup,” he said.
Shakib will be captaining all three formats, having started his new journey as Test and T20I captain last year.
Shakib had led Bangladesh in 49 ODI between 2009 and 2011 out of which he had won 22 matches. Shahib again captained the team in three ODI matches in 2015 and 2017. Shakib had led a total of 19 test matches, 39 T20Is, and 52 ODIs as captain.
The leadership was changed due to the uncertainty of Tamim’s fitness recovery from a back injury.
He will be out for the Asia Cup which begins on August 30, Tamim hopes to be fit for the ODI series against New Zealand which begins on September 21, and the ODI World Cup.
Tamim’s resignation as ODI captain comes after he reversed his emotional decision to retire from international cricket. He had retired on July 6 but Bangladesh Prime Sheikh Hasina intervened not to do so.
