New Delhi: The farewell of veteran Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will unlikely happen after the player is reportedly said to not arrive for the preparatory camp ahead of the first Test match against South Africa, which is scheduled to start on October 21 in Dhaka.
Shakib wanted to play his final Test match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka in front of his home crowd, a wish he desired during the second Test against India in Kanpur earlier this month.
However, there were doubts over the 37-year-old’s participation for the first Test against South Africa with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) initially couldn’t guarantee the security of the player, something that Shakib was apprehensive about.
The current Bangladesh government asked Shakib to make his stand clear after he was named in an FIR for a murder case of a student protestor in Dhaka, though he wasn’t present in the country during the time of the tragic incident.
Although Shakib issued a an apology on his Facebook page last week for being silent during the student’s protest, the Bangladesh all-rounder seems unlikely to make appearance for his last hurrah in the red-ball format. He was included in the 15-member Bangladesh squad for the first Test, but a BCB official said that Shakib won’t join the squad for preparatory camp (which was scheduled to start on October 18).
“He (Shakib) is not coming today that is for sure,” a BCB official was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
What Shakib has to say on missing final Test
Shakib said that his security was still a concern and that’s why he didn’t travel to Bangladesh after being asked to wait in Dubai while travelling from New York, where he participated in the National Cricket League.
“I am advised by my close quarter that my security is a concern,” Shakib told Cricbuzz.
“I think if any untoward scene happens during the Test due to Shakib’s appearance in that case, that will give a wrong message to the world and that is probably the reason no one can guarantee his security as the whole stadium cannot be kept under watch,” said an official involved with the development,” the BCB official further commented on the matter.
