BCB 'knows nothing' about who the next ODI captain will be
As it seems, the never-ending captaincy conundrum may continue for a little longer. We better grab a popcorn and enjoy while it unfolds, because there is nothing else to do, really.
It has been five days since Tamim Iqbal stepped down from ODI captaincy. The Asia Cup is 21 days away. And not to mention, the all-important World Cup is less than two months away. But the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) hasn't yet decided on who's going to lead the side in these tournaments.
The BCB called an emergency meeting at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Tuesday regarding the captaincy issue. Sure, there was hype regarding the ICC World Cup trophy arriving at the Home of Cricket, but all eyes were on the meeting.
It was expected that the new captain would be announced after the meeting. But the BCB, to everyone's utter surprise, apparently didn't even discuss the issue before Tuesday. The chairman of the cricket operations department, Jalal Yunus, said that they now have handed the responsibility of choosing the new skipper to the BCB president. And one can only hope it will be finalised by the next two-three days.
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"You know, we had an emergency meeting today, mostly about the Asia Cup captaincy issue. We have handed the responsibility to the board president. He will now decide after talking to the candidates. We have a deadline till 12 August, hopefully we will let you know before that," Jalal Yunus said after the "emergency meeting" on Tuesday.
It is shocking to even think that the board didn't discuss the issue in the past few days, merely 20 days before the Asia Cup begins. According to the cricket operations chairman, 'the official discussion' began after the emergency meeting.
There's talk of split captaincy in red and white-ball cricket. That too is up for discussion.
The obvious candidates - Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das - are yet to talk with the board members regarding the issue. Shakib is currently in Sri Lanka playing in the Lankan Premier League while Litton just returned home after his Global T20 duties.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz is also a probable candidate, Jalal Yunus mentioned.
"You know, there are Shakib and Litton [probable captains]. But there is another promising one, Miraz. His name is up there in the probable list. We will mainly discuss with these three," he said.
The board hasn't yet decided whether the new captain will be taking up the role for short term or long term. The board is not sure whether the new captain will only lead the side in the Asia Cup or whether it will be till the World Cup too. It's obvious though. They, afterall, haven't started their 'official discussions' yet.
"Our deadline to submit the World Cup squad is 5 September. So we want to decide World Cup's captaincy after further discussions," Jalal Yunus answered to a question on whether the new captain will lead the side in the World Cup too. But after a while, he contradicted his own words. "We have New Zealand series after the Asia Cup, and then the World Cup.Whoever is selected as the captain, will continue for these series," he said.
As it seems, the never-ending captaincy conundrum may continue for a little longer. We better grab a popcorn and enjoy while it unfolds, because there is nothing else to do, really.
