Shakib Al Hasan named Bangladesh captain until T20 World Cup 2022

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has appointed Shakib Al Hasan as their T20I captain, and the veteran all-rounder will lead the side in the Asia Cup in UAE, followed by the tri-Series against New Zealand and T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.

Bangladesh have been hit with a series of injuries as several key first-team players are facing time on the sidelines, including the newly appointed T20I captain Nurul Hasan. Hasan withdrew from the continental tournament as he was due to undergo surgery owing to a finger injury sustained in the T20I series against Zimbabwe.

Shakib Al Hasan was the favorite to take over the reins from the injured wicketkeeper-batter, but due to his dispute with the BCB, his appointment as the skipper of the side was delayed. The veteran all-rounder put up a social media post announcing his association with Betwinner News. A day later, Shakib received an ultimatum from the BCB to terminate his sponsorship deal with the platform, which was recognized as a surrogate company of Betwinner by the board.

Notably, the current laws in Bangladesh prohibit people from participating in gambling practices. The Bangladeshi star was found to violate that law since he took the sponsorship deal with Betwinner news. Although the website had stated that it had no relation to betting or gambling and is a “sports news portal only”, Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president stated in an announcement that any player who is associated with a gambling or betting site won’t be considered for the national team.

“He (Shakib) has to decide if he wants to play for Bangladesh, or stay with betting. There’s no scope of keeping that association. He has to come out of it completely. Let alone the captaincy, he won’t be in the team. There’s no discussion,” the BCB president had said on Wednesday afternoon.

The star all-rounder announced his withdrawal from the sponsorship deal with the alleged gambling site and was cleared to play for the Bangladesh national team on August 11. “Shakib has informed us shortly before [now] that he has terminated the contract with the company. He said that all social media posts pertaining to that sponsorship will be deleted,” Yunus told ESPNcricinfo.