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Bangladesh sports advisor Asif Mahmud has firmly stated that Shakib Al Hasan will not be featuring for the national team ever again. This comes after the all-rounder had recently shared a social media post wishing former Bangladesh Prime Minister on her birthday. This led to a war of words between Asif and Shakib on social media. Firstly, Asif shared a post stating, "All of you have abused me a lot for not rehabilitating one person. But I was right. End of the discussion."
Soon, after, Shakib came up with a response and stated that, "So someone has finally accepted that it's because of him that I can never put on the Bangladesh jersey again, because of whom I can't play for Bangladesh again. Maybe I will return to my motherland one day. Love you, Bangladesh."
After a few more messages, Asif went on to declare in an interview that he will never let Shakib don the Bangladesh jersey ever again. He also advised the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to never include the 38-year-old in their squad for future assignments. He further went on to claim that the all-rounder was also involved in Awami League's politics.
Asif's fiery remarks on Shakib
"We cannot let him carry the Bangladesh flag. It won't be possible for me to allow him to wear the Bangladesh jersey. Maybe I haven't told the BCB before, but now my clear direction for the BCB would be that Shakib Al Hasan can never again play for Bangladesh," Asif told Channel24, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"The number of times he has asked to enter the country, to play for Bangladesh, he had said that the Awami League had given him the [2024 general election] nomination forcibly. He claimed that he was not involved in politics. He wanted to become an MP to work for the people of his area [Magura]. The truth, however, is that he is intricately involved in Awami League's politics," he added.
Shakib's impressive numbers in international cricket
Meanwhile, Shakib had nothing short of a stellar international career for Bangladesh. After making his debut in 2006, he featured for the Tigers in a total of 71 Tests, 247 ODIs and 129 T20Is. He contributed incredibly well in both the batting and bowling departments, scoring over 14,000 runs and taking over 700 wickets across the three formats. He captained the Bangladesh team for several years and played a massive role in making them a formidable team that can go toe-to-toe with any other team in the world.
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