Selection row casts shadow over Tigers’ T20I opener
As Bangladesh take on Ireland in the first of three T20Is in Chattogram today -- their final international assignment before next year's ICC T20 World Cup -- a dispute between skipper Litton Das and chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu over the omission of Shamim Hossain has overshadowed the game and taken centre-stage.
The series against the Irish is the Tiger's last opportunity to address issues with the T20I side before the global event, set to place in India and Sri Lanka in February-March. After this, the players will only feature in the 12th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), beginning on December 19.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. But on the eve of the series, the discussions mostly centred around some of the comments made by Litton in the pre-series press conference. The skipper expressed dissatisfaction over Shamim's exclusion from the squad for the first two T20Is and said he was disappointed by the lack of communication from the selectors.
"It would've been good if he was in the team. This is not my call -- it's totally the selectors' call. I don't know why the selectors removed Shamim from the team without giving me any notice. I always thought that at least the captain should always know which players are coming in and going out," Litton told reporters.
Hours after Litton's comments, chief selector Lipu responded with a video statement.
Lipu said he knew of the skipper's desire to keep Shamim in the squad, who had managed just two runs across two matches in the recent West Indies series, but after a discussion with fellow selector Hasibul Hossain Shanto, it was decided to drop the all-rounder.
"Before announcing the T20 squad for the Ireland series, we held a very brief meeting with the coach and the captain. When we asked the captain if he was satisfied with Shamim, Litton said 'yes', and he clearly stated he wanted to see Shamim in the team," Lipu said.
"Immediately after the team announcement, I received a phone call from the captain. Upon not seeing Shamim in the squad, he was not happy… I told him this is our decision.
"The selection committee does not always have to be in alignment with the captain and coach regarding a particular player. We are accountable to the board."
Considering the significance of these matches ahead of the World Cup, the players and the management should have ideally be completely focused on on-field matters and come up with plans on how to end the year strong.
But the happenings of Wednesday displayed a rift between the think tank, which has almost become a recurrent theme for the Tigers ahead of World Cups. Only time will tell how this episode affects the team moving forward.
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