After being reinstated as the team's Test captain earlier in the year, all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was on August 13 (Saturday) re-appointed as Bangladesh's T20I skipper until the T20I World Cup, which is slated to take place in Australia later in the year. While announcing the squad for the upcoming Asia Cup, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed that the veteran all-rounder will continue to lead the national side in the shortest format of the game until the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
The latest development comes after Shakib ended his endorsement deal with a betting company BetWinner. According to reports, the 35-year-old held a meeting with BCB president Nazmul Hasan and tendered a formal apology.
"Shakib admitted his mistake (regarding Betwinner controversy), but he is important to us," BCB cricket operation chairman Jalal Yunus told reporters after the meeting
"He is still our best player. We had already decided on Shakib being the captain earlier, so we are sticking to it. He thought it was an online news website. He felt he was misguided.
"He has said he has terminated the (Betwinner) contract. We are hopeful he will not repeat it again. We have asked him not to commit such a mistake again. We have ended the whole thing," Yunus concluded.
Shakib Al Hasan has so far led Bangladesh to seven wins in the 21 matches he has captained the national side in T20I cricket.
Meanwhile, experienced campaigners like Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Ebadat Hossain and Mohammad Saifuddin all returned to the national set-up and were named in Bangladesh's Asia Cup squad.
However, Liton Das, who scored a century (121 runs off 117 balls) in the Asia Cup final in 2018 against India, missed out due to injury.
Bangladesh's squad for Asia Cup: Shakib al Hasan (C), Anamul Haq Bijoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mossaddek Saikat, Mahmudullah Riyad, Sheikh Mahedi, Saifuddin, Hasan Mahmud, Mustafizur Rahman, Nasum Ahmed, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedy Hasan Miraz, Ebadot Hossain, Parvez Hossain Emon, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Taskin Ahmed.
