Shakib to miss last of Tamim's live shows featuring rest of big five
Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal's series of Facebook Live talk shows with Bangladeshi and foreign stars had raised the question of why ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has not yet featured. After today's episode with New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson Tamim revealed that he had approached Shakib for an episode but for some reason or other Shakib would not be able to feature.
Tamim has been hosting live Facebook chat shows since May 2 with his colleagues, foreign cricketers and former players as an attempt to keep the fans entertained during this coronavirus crisis. Tamim had however wanted to end the series with an episode featuring all five stalwarts -- Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim himself.
However, Tamim informed that while the other three agreed to join Tamim on his last episode for a live chat, Shakib was not available.
"Our last episode will be on Saturday [May 23]. I hope that everyone will watch it. I want to make one thing clear. I have seen many asking when will Shakib appear on the show. The thing is, I contacted him about 7, 8 or 12 days ago because I wanted the last show to be with all five of us together. This is what I had planned for and my biggest desire.
"But, unfortunately maybe for some personal reason, Shakib cannot join us. I think there is no need of any further discussion about it as people may have their personal reasons and everyone should respect it. But I am grateful to the other four who agreed to do this," informed Tamim.
Shakib, one of the best all-rounders in world cricket, has been out of action since October 29, when he was banned by the International Cricket Council for two years (with the second of those suspended) for failing to report corrupt approaches by a bookmaker.
Before today's episode with his New Zealand counterpart Williamson, on Tuesday night, Tamim's Facebook live chat featured former Bangladesh cricketers Akram Khan, Minhazul Abedin and Khaled Masud, with Pakistan fast-bowling legend Wasim Akram dropping in for a brief and entertaining cameo.
Tamim had started his live chats with Bangladesh teammate Mushfiqur Rahim on May 2, before hosting the likes of Mahmudullah Riyad, former Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, former players Naimur Rahman, Habibul Bashar and Khaled Mahmud and, most recently among teammates, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das and Taijul Islam.
On May 13, he hosted his first foreign guest in South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, and followed it up with Indian batting giants Rohit Sharma on May 15 and Virat Kohli on May 18.