Shakib Al Hasan withdraws retirement, eyes all-format home series as farewell

KARACHI: Bangladesh's veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan revealed that he was not retired from any of the three formats and instead intends to play a full-fledged home series before calling time on his glittering international career.

Shakib, who last represented Bangladesh in the Kanpur Test against India in October last year, had gone out of favour due to his political and legal controversies.

The all-rounder served as a lawmaker for the Awami League, the party formerly led by Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted from power in a student-led uprising last year.

Speaking to the media ahead of his most recent appearance for Bangladesh, Shakib hinted that the away series against India could be his last, while he was done playing the T20Is.

Although the seasoned all-rounder had expressed his desire to feature in the subsequent home series against South Africa, he was not picked in the Bangladesh squad, leading to speculations that the Kanpur Test against India would be his final international appearance.

"I am available for the South Africa series but since there's a lot happening back home, naturally not everything depends on me," Shakib had said.

"I have discussed my plans about Test cricket with the BCB. Especially this series and the home series. I was thinking that it could be my last Test series.

"I have told [BCB president] Faruque bhai and the selectors. If there's a chance and if I can play, my last Test will be in Mirpur. The board is trying to ensure that I can play and feel safe, at the same time that I can leave the country without a hitch.

"I am a citizen of Bangladesh, so I shouldn't have any problem going back to Bangladesh," he said. "My concern is my safety and security in Bangladesh. My close friends and family members are concerned. I hope things are getting better. There should be a solution to it."

Meanwhile, as per the latest development, Shakib Al Hasan has claimed that he was not "officially" retired from any format and instead wants to play a "whole series" before stepping away from international cricket.

"I am officially not retired from all formats. This is the first time I'll be revealing that. My plan is to go back to Bangladesh, play one full series of ODI, Test, and T20, and retire," Shakib said while speaking on YouTube's "Beard Before Wicket" podcast.

"I mean, [I can] retire from all formats in a series. So it can start from T20I, ODI and Test, or Test, ODI, T20I. Either way, I'm fine, but I want to play a whole series and retire. That's what I want," he added.

For the unversed, Shakib has represented Bangladesh in 71 Tests, 247 ODIs and 129 T20Is, scoring a total of 14,730 runs across formats besides taking 712 international wickets.