Mahmudullah to lead Bangladesh in T20Is against India; Mominul Haque appointed Test captain

Bangladesh cricket suffered a massive blow on Tuesday. Their star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was banned for two years (one of those suspended) by the ICC for not reported multiple corrupt approaches. The news of the left-hander missing out on the India tour was doing the rounds since morning on October 29 and by evening it was confirmed.

Soon after the news broke out, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) appointed Mahmudullah and Mominul Haque as T20I and Test captains respectively for the upcoming India tour. The Tigers are scheduled to play three T20 Internationals and a couple of Test matches against India. They will embark on a month-long tour on Wednesday with the first T20I set to be played on Sunday in Delhi.

Shakib Al Hasan was the Test and T20I skipper earlier and with him being banned, the BCB had to look out for other options and zeroed in on Mahmudullah and Mominul Haque according to ESPNCricinfo.

How did all the drama related to Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan unfold?

Few are also questioning the timing of Shakib Al Hasan getting banned. Only last week, the southpaw had led the Bangladesh players’ strike against the BCB. They had placed as many as 11 demands before the board and had stated that they won’t be participating at any level of cricket until the demands were accepted. Though the BCB chief Nazmul Hassan earlier termed it as a conspiracy ahead of the high-profile India tour, he accepted all the demands later in a meeting.

Shakib Al Hasan himself then announced that the players had called off the strike. But the feud between him and the board continued with the latter sending the cricketer a show-cause notice for joining hands with a telecom company which was against the board’s rules. Add to it, Shakib’s absence from the practice sessions organised ahead of the tour.

Shakib also missed the two T20 practice matches played between the selected players for the tour. While the board had informed that the premier all-rounder was dropped from the team for those matches, it was reported that Shakib’s name was originally present in the list.

However, on Monday, Nazmul Hassan indicated that the 32-year-old could miss the all-important tour not revealing the exact reasons. And also called up the meeting on the same evening with some of the other senior cricketers without Shakib. Come Tuesday evening, Shakib Al Hasan has been banned from all cricket, and the BCB had no option but to appoint the new captains.

It remains to be seen now how the team performs under Mahmudullah in the T20I series amidst all the controversy. Another point to note here is Mahmudullah’s place in the team was under threat not long ago for not performing to the expectations. Mominul Haque, on the other hand, has regularly been the part of the Test side and will hope to bring the best out of the players.

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