Bangladesh have formally confirmed Shakib Al Hasan as the new captain of their T20I side. Shakib will take over from Mashrafe Mortaza, who retired from the format earlier this month, BCB president Nazmul Hassan saidon Saturday(April 22).
“There were other names that we considered but Shakib’s form and ability in T20s is outstanding so he was almost chosen by default,” Hassan said in Mirpur.
The BCB chief had previously indicated that Shakib was the likeliest candidate, among three others, and the decision was taken at the board’s first meeting in 2017. Shakib has previous captaincy experience in the shortest format, but Bangladesh have lost all four games with the allrounder at the helm, between 2009 and 2010.
BCB announce hikes for contracted players
In another major development, BCB also raised the salary of Bangladesh’s contracted players for 2017. The highest grade – A-plus – had their income hiked by 38% to BDT 400,000 (USD 5000) per month. The four other categories – A, B, C and D – got an increment ranging between 25 per cent to 33 per cent. The decision was approved after players reportedly demanded a parity in annual contracts, when compared to that of the other sides. The players’ match fee has also been increased – BDT 350,000 (USD 4375) for a Test, BDT 200,000 for an ODI and BDT 125,000 for T20I.
BCB however have not released the list of contract players for the year. “We are slightly confused by our grading system of the players. They get more rating points by playing more matches but that sometimes isn’t fair to players like Mustafizur Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain and Mehedi Hasan who also perform but haven’t played many matches. So we will have a second look where we consider the players’ performance as well as our rating system,” Hassan said.
