Shakib Al Hasan has claimed that his letter to the Bangladesh Cricket Board regarding permission to play in the Indian Premier League has been misinterpreted.
The all-rounder, while appearing on Facebook live of Cricfrenzy, a cricket portal, on Saturday night, said that he wanted to play in the IPL and skip the Tests against Sri Lanka only as preparation for October’s World T20.
“Playing in the IPL will help me to prepare for the T20 World Cup in India. This is why I took the decision. BCB did not read my letter. I didn’t mention that I won’t play Test matches. Nothing like that mentioned in that letter,” the 33-year-old cricketer said.
Shakib, who has skipped the series against New Zealand due to the birth of his third child, will also miss the Tests in Sri Lanka, slated for the third and fourth weeks of April.
Shakib will instead be with the Kolkata Knight Riders outfit in IPL at that time. However, he is likely to be available for Sri Lanka’s limited-overs tour of Bangladesh in late May.
“I think Akram Bhai [Akram Khan] did not read my letter properly. Akram Bhai has repeatedly said that I didn’t want to play Tests, which is not mentioned anywhere in my letter,” Shakib said.
“Now that the Test Championship is underway, we are at the bottom. Even if we win the remaining two matches, we will not play in the final. And they have already played 7-8 matches without me. These are opportunities to make players. Young players will get the opportunity. Besides, there is T20I World Cup at the end of the year which is a big event” Shakib added.
The all-rounder has criticised BCB’s scheduling of the home series against Sri Lanka, which clashes with the IPL. The IPL is set to take place from April 9 to May 28.
“No other cricket board holds international matches during the IPL,” he said. “Only we are playing against Sri Lanka. Do you ever see any Afghanistan cricketer playing for their country during the IPL? Their board makes sure the players are free to play in the IPL. If we don’t value our own players, how can you expect us to perform well when playing for Bangladesh?”
The all-rounder also came hard on other issues regarding the BCB, including development of young players. However, he praised the leadership of Nazmul Hassan and the contribution of director Khaled Mahmud.
“We have a number of people in the cricket board who have played for Bangladesh, but apart from (Khaled Mahmud) Sujon bhai, they are not too involved. Sujon bhai and (Nazmul Hassan) Papon bhai must be credited for the 2019 Under-19 World Cup win. But I can’t find any more people from the board to give credit. I don’t think they think much about cricket,” Shakib said.
