Shakib’s place in India tour uncertain
In the space of five days, Bangladesh Test and T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan went from being the leader in a players’ strike to improve the status of the country’s cricketers to plunging the national team’s plans into uncertainty on the eve of an important tour of India.
The team is set to depart for New Delhi tomorrow to play three T20Is and two Tests against India, with the first T20I scheduled for November 3, but Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan could not say for certain whether Shakib would be making the trip.
As of yesterday night, Shakib had missed three out of four days of the national team’s training camp, that too without any formal explanation or leave sought from the team management. The camp began on Friday and Shakib only participated for half a day on Saturday, before missing the two practice games in the following two days.
The selectors had named a T20I squad for the tour, but with star opener Tamim Iqbal withdrawing from the tour to be with his pregnant wife, the BCB was supposed to name an altered squad last night. However, Shakib’s continued absence forced the board to defer naming the squad to today. Similar uncertainty surrounds the Test squad, which is yet to be announced.
Shakib’s unnotified absence has not been his only disciplinary breach over the past week. In the middle of the three-day players’ strike, Shakib had signed a sponsorship deal with telecom company Grameenphone, which was in direct breach of the terms of his contract on Tuesday. After the strike was resolved on Wednesday with the BCB agreeing to nine of the players’ 11-point demand, the board issued a letter to Shakib asking him to explain his deal with the telecom giants.
“When it comes to sponsorship deals the telecom companies pay the most. We had a three-year sponsorship deal with Robi for Tk 90 crore. One of the terms of the deal was that the players could not sin with any competing brands. They wanted four or five players for a total of 45 minutes a year [to shoot commercials],” BCB President Hassan told The Daily Star during an interview at his residence yesterday. “What Grameen did was they signed one player, and none of the others wanted to fulfil the commitment to Robi. So they [Robi] complained a few times and eventually withdrew from the deal.
“Then it was decided that the players could not sign with any telecom company, and they would have to take the board’s permission even before signing deals with brands of other sectors. This is written in their contracts and they have signed it,” Hassan said while explaining how Shakib had breached the terms of his contract. “I want him to give his side of the story, which is why I issued the letter.”
As for the uncertainty surrounding Shakib’s availability for the tour of India, Hassan seemed to have as little knowledge on the subject as those outside Bangladesh cricket’s corridors of power.
“To tell you the truth, I am confused. Nothing is clear at the moment. If Shakib does not go, it changes the whole team combination. He told me yesterday [Sunday] at my office that he was going to Mirpur to play [the practice match], but I went there and I saw he was not there.
“There is something more here. This is suspicious. All I can say is that it is not what you are thinking,” said Hassan, perhaps alluding to any fallout from the players’ strike.
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