- Friday, September 13, 2024
Shakib Al Hasan has been a premier representative of Bangladesh cricket for the last 17 years.
By: Shubham Ghosh
BANGLADESH all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who will captain his country in the upcoming World Cup in India, wants to call time on his illustrious international career after the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
He has also asserted that while he plans to retire from Tests following the World Cup starting October 5, he is also likely to quit T20s after the ICC T20 World Cup next year in the West Indies and the United States of America.
Talking to T-Sports, as reported by ESPNCricinfo, the 36-year-old ace left-hand all-rounder said, “The 2025 Champions Trophy for ODIs and the 2024 T20 World Cup for T20Is. Tests may be sooner. Maybe (after the World Cup).
“I will retire all at once, but I will stop playing each format one by one. I will announce my retirement after the 2025 Champions Trophy.”
Shakib also captained the Bangladesh side during the Asia Cup earlier this month in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It was his second stint as the unit’s leader.
Under him, the Tigers did make it to the Super 4 of the Asia Cup, but failed to make it to the final despite beating India, the eventual champions.
In the meantime, Shakib has confirmed that his outing in the upcoming World Cup will be his last as the skipper and will be quitting captaincy as a whole.
“Given the current reality, I am captain only till the World Cup. Not a day more.” “I resigned from the captaincy on the 17th [of September]. The reasons were the same when I didn’t want to captain ahead of the Asia Cup.
“I don’t think my captaincy is adding value at this stage of my career. I wanted to just bowl my 10 overs, give my best in fielding, and do my batting.
“The easiest thing to do for me would have been not to take the captaincy. At this age, I didn’t want to take this pressure. I want to smile, enjoy my game, perform for Bangladesh,” he added.
Shakib captained Bangladesh in the 2011 50-over World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup.
Bangladesh take on Afghanistan in its opening fixture of the World Cup on October 7 in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.
(With PTI inputs)
