Bangladesh star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has sought the permission of Bangladesh Cricket Board to skip the New Zealand tour which will take place in March-April this year, reports news agency UNB.
In this tour, Bangladesh will take on the hosts in three ODIs and as many T20Is. The matches will be played at Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton, Napier and Auckland.
The cricket operations chairman of BCB, Akram Khan, confirmed that the all-rounder has sent a letter to the board seeking paternity leave.
Shakib and his wife Ummey Ahmed are expecting their third child.
The all-rounder has recently made a comeback to international cricket after serving a one-year ban imposed by the ICC due to failing to report corrupt approaches made to him by the bookies.
In his comeback ODI series, Shakib emerged the man of the series with his all-round performance.
He also made a comeback to Test cricket with the Chattogram Test against West Indies which Bangladesh lost on the fifth day by three wickets.
Shakib had to stay out of most parts of the game due to a groin injury which prevented him from bowling in the second innings. He only bowled six overs in first innings.
BCB has already confirmed that the all-rounder is unable to take part in the second Test against West Indies starting from 11 February in Dhaka.
