'Unaware of Shakib's intentions'

The Bangladesh Cricket Board [BCB] Cricket Operations Committee chairman Akram Khan yesterday claimed that he was unaware of the issue regarding the unwillingness of a few senior cricketers to continue playing Test cricket as claimed by the board's president Nazmul Hassan on the previous day.

Hassan had said that skipper Shakib Al Hasan and pacer Mustafizur Rahman were not interested to play Test cricket while he also said that it is getting difficult for pacer Rubel Hossain to continue to play Test cricket.

The Cricket Operations Committee is responsible for making players' contracts and overseeing other issues of the national cricketers.

"He [Shakib] is playing Test cricket and he is also the Test captain. Did he himself say that he does not want to play Test Cricket?" questioned Akram.

When he was informed that the BCB president commented over the issue, Akram said he was not aware of the matter.

"I am not fully aware of the issue as Shakib is one of the most important players of the team and, at the moment, I think he is important for us in all three formats. We want to get our best players in the right areas," he said.

The former Bangladesh captain also expressed his disappointment when reminded of the claim that most of the senior players are not interested in playing Test cricket.

"This should not have happened and I am disappointed to hear this," Akram said.

Hassan had also stated that the board is willing to form different Test and T20I teams in the future. However, according to Akram, it will be difficult to form a separate team for the longer version.

"We are not yet in a position to form a separate Test team as we have very few alternatives. You can see that almost 80 per cent of the cricketers are playing all three formats for us, which is not the case for other countries. First you need to have the option, and then you will be able to form a separate team," he said.

The four senior members of the Bangladesh team -- Shakib, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad -- have played more than 200 Tests combined.

Shakib took a break from the Test series against South Africa last year before being reappointed as the Test skipper later in the year.