Following Facebook exchange, Asif declares Shakib 'will never play for Bangladesh again'

Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan says Shakib Al Hasan will not be allowed to play for the national team again, escalating a two-day online spat that began with the cricketer's birthday greeting to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last year.

Speaking to a TV channel this week, Asif said he would issue a "clear instruction" to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB): "He cannot be allowed to carry Bangladesh's flag or wear its jersey… Shakib Al Hasan will never again play for the Bangladesh team."

The adviser's on-air declaration followed a rapid exchange of Facebook posts.

On 28 September around 9pm, Shakib posted a photo with Hasina — now abroad following her ouster — with the caption, "Happy birthday, Apa."

About an hour later, Asif wrote on his own page: "Many cursed me for not rehabilitating one person. But I was right. End of discussion."

Asif's comment refers to the time when Shakib was about to head back home to play a Test match in Dhaka, which he had announced as his last, but he couldn't due to the protest against him.

Shakib was a member of the parliament during Hasina's last tenure. He was elected for Hasina's Awami League party.

At 11:20pm, Shakib replied on Facebook without naming Asif: "So finally someone admits that because of him I was not given the Bangladesh jersey again, could not play for Bangladesh!" He ended with: "Perhaps one day I will return to my motherland. I love Bangladesh."

By yesterday afternoon (29 September), Asif doubled down.

In another post, he said, "Whose hands are stained with the blood of students and people cannot be allowed to carry Bangladesh's flag," and argued that Shakib is "deeply tied" to Awami League politics despite claiming he was "forced" into a 2024 election nomination.

He also cited long-running allegations against the player, referring to "share market scams, money laundering, financial fraud," and added: "Why should someone be rehabilitated just because he is a good cricketer? The law is equal for all."

Asked by TV about the birthday post, Shakib said it was not political.

"She has always followed cricket, long before politics… From that connection, I wished her. There was no other motive, no signal to anyone," he said. Shakib has previously maintained he was compelled to accept the election nomination and was not active in party politics.

The dispute is the latest twist in a fraught year for the country's most prominent cricketer. Shakib was outside Bangladesh when Hasina's government fell on August 5 last year. Since then he has not returned home. He was elected to parliament on the Awami League's boat symbol and, like others from that period, now faces cases including murder and financial allegations.

A planned farewell Test in October collapsed when, according to team sources at the time and government officials, he turned back mid-journey after failing to secure permission to enter Dhaka.

Many in cricket circles believed the sports adviser opposed his return; Asif's posts this week will be read as confirmation that he did.

Last night Asif said that while he had not previously conveyed a formal position to the BCB, his directive is now explicit: Shakib will not be selected again. The adviser framed the stance as a matter of national dignity as much as discipline.

"He cannot be allowed to bear the identity of Bangladesh's jersey," he told the channel.

Shakib's supporters flooded social media, arguing that cricket should be separated from politics and that selection should be based on performance and fitness. Critics of the all-rounder countered that no athlete should be insulated from legal scrutiny or treated as an exception.

The debate showed how entwined sport and politics have become — and how much of it now plays out on phones before it reaches meeting rooms.

Shakib, 38, did not address the selection ban directly beyond his Facebook post. In the same message he wrote, "Perhaps one day I will return to my motherland," a line that read like a farewell and a promise at once.

Asif's order, if acted upon, would draw a line under an era that defined Bangladesh cricket for more than a decade. It was delivered not at a selection table or a press conference, but across a weekend of posts and late-night calls — a very modern end to a very public career.