Shakib Al Hasan named new Bangladesh ODI captain
The all-rounder is set to lead the team in the Asia Cup and the World Cup following a return as the full-time ODI captain after a 12-year gap.
After much anticipation, Shakib Al Hasan has been appointed as the captain of the Bangladesh ODI team, replacing Tamim Iqbal.
The all-rounder is set to lead the team in the Asia Cup and the World Cup following a return as the full-time ODI captain after a 12-year gap.
The news was confirmed by the BCB president Nazmul Hassan on Friday.
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Shakib is currently the team's Test and T20I captain and has the experience of leading Bangladesh in the 50-over format 50 times, most notably in the 2011 World Cup at home.
Shakib captained Bangladesh in 47 ODIs between 2009 and 2011 before being sacked after a dismal Zimbabwe tour. He led Bangladesh in three more ODIs, the latest being in 2017, in the absence of Mashrafe Mortaza.
A 17-man squad for the Asia Cup will be named on Saturday.
The 36-year-old is now officially Bangladesh's all-format captain but Nazmul believes it would be difficult for him to lead across formats.
"I think it's tough for him to be the captain in all three formats. We have to make a decision after discussing it with him. We have to talk to him about that. And if he can do it in all three formats, there's no problem," he said.
Nazmul said a few days ago that Shakib was the "easiest choice". On Friday, he repeated that. " With the Asia Cup and the World Cup approaching, Shakib was the easiest choice. There was another obvious choice. If Shakib had declined, [we would have named] Litton Das [the captain]."
The BCB boss stated that there was no better contender than the all-rounder for a high-pressure event like the World Cup.
"Pressure is a big thing. World Cup pressure and pressure in bilateral series is different. So to handle that pressure in the World Cup, I think there is no-one better than Shakib," he mentioned.
