Shakib Al Hasan likely to take over captaincy from Mashrafe Mortaza

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is all set to take over the captaincy from Mashrafe Mortaza in T20Is after the latter announced his retirement yesterday. Mortaza would still, lead the ODI side. The T20 fixture against the Sri Lankans tomorrow will be his last in the shortest format of the game.

BCB president Nazmul Hasan is having frequent discussions with the three stalwarts in the Bangladesh ranks. He went on to state the immense contribution the trio have served Bangladesh cricket with. He added that the issue of retirement rests completely on the players, even though the news came as a shock to the President.

Hasan stated,”I had a meeting with Mashrafe, Tamim [Iqbal], Mushfiqur [Rahim] and Shakib [on Monday]. I told them that they had such a contribution to the nation’s cricket that barring a disciplinary issue no one, not me, not anyone could drop them. They would have to make their own exit plans.Mashrafe had told us for some time that this series would be his last as a captain, but we didn’t know he was going to retire. That is where he left it that night, and it was up to him when he would announce it; we thought he would do it before the second match. I don’t know why he retired”

” If he is fit then who can omit him? If he doesn’t want to play then that’s a different issue, but there is no scope for us to omit him.We were thinking about the next T20 World Cup in 2020, and by that time it was unlikely that Mashrafe would be fit to play, so there would have been a new captain down the line anyway.” Hasan added.

Iterating the optimistic Board President,”As far as the next captain is concerned, there are four candidates. Tamim, Mushfiqur, Mahmudullah and Shakib. Mahmudullah is yet to fully regain his rhythm, but among them Shakib is the player who is doing best and has also matured very much in recent times. Shakib is the likeliest candidate.”