Bangladesh’s premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan confirmed his availability for the tour of South Africa, adding that any decisions regarding resting players would be taken by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
“I spoke to [BCB president Nazmul Hassan] Papon bhai over the past few days and we managed to make a plan for the whole year. Since I am a part of all three formats [in the latest central contract list], I will always be available for all three formats. The board will decide when it is necessary to rest me and that goes for the South Africa series as well. So I am available for the South Africa series,” Shakib, who returned from his trip to Dubai on Wednesday, told reporters after a meeting with the BCB in Mirpur today.
Earlier, the all-rounder was allowed a rest from all forms of cricket till April 30 after he had mentioned he is ‘physically and mentally unfit’ to play cricket. That would have seen Shakib missing the entire upcoming South Africa series.
However, the left-hander will leave for South Africa tomorrow night, Hassan confirmed, before elaborating on the discussions that had taken place.
Let’s look at the sequence of how things happened,” Hassan said.
“Shakib had initially wanted a break [till November this year], which is normal as any player can ask for a break. But during Bangladesh’s third ODI [against Afghanistan last month], he said that he will be playing [the South Africa series]. However, before leaving for Dubai [last Sunday], he told the media and BCB cricket operations committee chairman Jalal Yunus that he is not mentally and physically fit to play cricket. Then again, he talked with me from Dubai and said that he would finalise his decision once he returns to the country.
But then, while still in Dubai, he [Shakib] decided that he will not tour South Africa and relayed the news to Jalal bhai, who in turn told the media about this decision. And then we [BCB] also gave him a rest from cricket [till April 30]. However, after returning to the country Shakib told me that he was feeling mentally disturbed. That can happen to anyone at one point or another. You can speculate why that is, but there can be things that nobody knows about. Because he is mentally disturbed, he has been having problems in regards to his decision-making. So we had a long discussion and he said after that he was willing to play all formats, including the South Africa series,” Hassan explained.
“I told him to rest and cool off and let me know afterwards. He called me again yesterday and said that he really did want to play in South Africa. I told him to come and meet at the BCB headquarters today and then we all sat down and discussed the total programme.”
Hassan also said that he was not one to be angered by any player asking for a rest because of the demands of international cricket.
“We have 14 ODIs, 15 T20Is and eight Tests and it is a problem for anyone to play so many games consecutively in one year. We have to understand that. I realised that and said that players sometimes needed a break. So I had said that if anyone does not want to play in any format, they can let us know. But they cannot wait until the last moment to do so because that is a big problem for us.”
He also asked the media to stop speculating about possible reasons when a player asks to rest or is left out of the team.
“If someone does not play a series or two, there is no reason to speculate. The board might even decide to drop players and try someone new. I would like to ask you to take this sportingly. It’s part of the game and happens all over the world.”
“Since Shakib has told us that he is feeling mentally disturbed, we should be giving him our support. All the talk shows and discussions speculating about it are not good in that context. We have to stand beside someone when they are suffering mentally or physically. Do not speculate because that causes more problems.”
Bangladesh will play the first of three ODIs against South Africa on March 18 in Centurion. The second and third ODIs are scheduled for March 20 and 23 in Johannesburg and Centurion respectively.
The first Test will be on March 30 in Durban while the second and final Test of the series will start on April 7 in Port Elizabeth.
