BCB allows Shakib to choose IPL over SL Tests
The country's sports arena was abuzz yesterday morning when news broke that premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was granted permission to skip the Sri Lanka Tests to play in the upcoming 14th edition of the Indian Premier League.
Shakib had sent a letter to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) asking permission to sit out the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka in April as he wants to fulfil his IPL commitment for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who bought the left-hander for 3.2 crore rupees during Thursday's auction.
Although the BCB mentioned that it was not a good example, the board granted Shakib's request stating that it would not "make any sense to force anyone to play if someone does not want to".
The BCB's decision remains an unprecedented one as it came from a board that had previously denied left-arm paceman Mustafizur Rahman a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for last year's IPL. Mustafizur was denied an NOC for the same Sri Lanka tour back in September 2020 before the series was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and then postponed again when the two boards could not agree on quarantine protocols.
From a global perspective, players being allowed by their respective boards to miss series to play in the lucrative franchise T20 league is not new. Even though schedules have yet not been confirmed, the possibility is that the IPL will start from the second week of April and will run till the end of May.
Keeping that in mind and if players are required to head towards India for IPL sometime around mid-March or late March for adhering to quarantine protocols, even the New Zealand cricket board mentioned that they would allow players like New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson, Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson and Tim Seifert to miss out on the three-ODI and three-T20I series against Bangladesh next month.
The Tigers are scheduled to play the ODI series from March 20 and the T20I series from March 28 against the Kiwis.
These Kiwi players may also miss their two-Test series against England the following month with the dates possibly clashing with IPL.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also allowed the likes of Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali to participate in the IPL during that time.
Meanwhile, yesterday, with news of Shakib opting out of national duty for IPL doing rounds on social media, cricket experts, pundits, journalists and fans in general seemed to have been divided into two groups -- one against Shakib's decision and the other supporting and justifying it.
"Shakib is a brand for us. I think that Shakib playing in the IPL will benefit Bangladesh going into the [T20] World Cup [scheduled for October-November in India]. Two or three players can take a team a long way and in that sense, I think that playing in IPL will be beneficial for Shakib," said former BCB chief selector Faruk Ahmed.
Some, however, thought differently, criticising Shakib for being reluctant to play for Bangladesh. The fact that Shakib's decision of choosing IPL over Test cricket came at a time when Bangladesh are reeling from a humiliating Test series defeat against a depleted West Indies has only fuelled criticism.
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