Shakib agree to join SA tour

Bangladesh’s premier all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan confirmed his availability for the tour of South Africa, adding that any decisions regarding resting players would be taken by the board.

“I spoke to (Nazmul Hassan) Papon bhai over the past few days and we managed to make a plan for the whole year. Since I am a part of all three formats, I will always be available for all three formats. The board will decide when it is necessary to rest me and that goes for the South Africa series as well. So I am available for that series,” Shakib told reporters.

The left-hander will leave for South Africa today night, Hassan confirmed, before elaborating on the discussions that had taken place.

“Before going to Dubai, Shakib said that he was not mentally or physically fit. But when he got there, he told me he would come back and let me know if there was anything. He then took the decision that he would not go. He told me the day before yesterday after coming back that he was feeling mentally disturbed. That can happen to anyone at one point or another. You can speculate why that is, but there can be things that nobody knows about. Because he is mentally disturbed, he has been having problems in regards to his decision-making. So we had a long discussion and he said after that he was willing to play all formats, including the South Africa series,” Hassan explained.

“I told him to rest and cool off and let me know afterwards. He called me again yesterday and said that he really did want to play in South Africa. I told him to come and meet at the BCB today and then we all sat down and discussed the total programme.”

Hassan also said that he was not one to be angered by any player asking for a rest because of the demands of international cricket.

“We have 14 ODIs, 15 T20Is and 8 Tests and it is a problem for anyone to play so many games consecutively in one year.  We have to understand that. I realised that and said that players sometimes needed a break. So I had said that if anyone does not want to play in any format, they can let us know. But they cannot wait until the last moment to do so because that is a big problem for us.”

He also asked the media to stop speculating about possible reasons when a player asks to rest or is left out of the team.

“If someone does not play a series or two, there is no reason to speculate. The board might even decide to drop players and try someone new. I would like to ask you to take this sportingly. It’s part of the game and happens all over the world.”

“Since Shakib has told us that he is feeling mentally disturbed, we should be giving him our support. All the talk shows and discussions speculating about it are not good in that context. We have to stand beside someone when they are suffering mentally or physically. Do not speculate because that causes more problems.”