Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Friday that all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will be included in the national contract from the upcoming home series against West Indies.
BCB excluded Shakib from the national contract since being banned by the ICC for failing to report corrupt approaches in October 2019.BCB last year introduced a separate contract for the red and white ball and according to board insiders Shakib is expected to have a contract for all three formats.
“We will include him in the national contract the moment he starts playing for the national team and if everything goes according to plan; he will be featuring for us in the upcoming home series against West Indies,” BCB cricket operation chairman Akram Khan told reporters on Friday that suggests BCB will not follow the normal norm regarding awarding the national contract for Shakib.
Usually, BCB provides a national contract after assessing the performance of cricketers in international and domestic cricket but according to the BCB cricket operation chairman it won’t be followed for Shakib as far as national contract is concerned.
Akram added that he is not concerned with Shakib’s form in the ongoing T20 tournament as he still looks close to his best after returning to cricket with the ongoing domestic T20 tournament where he looked reasonable with the ball he is yet to shine with the bat despite trying his luck at the top of the order on two occasions.
“He (Shakib) is a great player but I believe he will be back soon. Since it’s T20 format and the time frame is short he is finding it difficult to adjust and as a result, he is failing to do well,” he said.
“But soon he will return back to his best,” he said.
Akram added that they are going to start the national preparation camp following a short gap after the ongoing T20 tournament to prepare for the upcoming home series against West Indies.
The visitors are scheduled to arrive in mid January for the tour that will involve three Tests, three ODIs and two T20Is though there is a possibility one Test might be reduced eventually as the tourists want to wrap up the series as quickly as possible.
“We are likely to start the camp after December 25 and while the coached might arrive later we will start the preparation under the fitness trainer initially,” said Akram that suggests the cricketers are expected to have a seven-day break after the Bangabandhu T20 that is scheduled to host the final on December 18.
It was learnt team management is planning to hold two four-day intra-squad matches as part of the preparation for the Test series.
