"May be I will retire from three formats at the same time" - Shakib Al Hasan opens up on his playing future
Bagladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has strongly hinted that he will retire from international cricket after the 2025 Champions Trophy. The spin-bowling all-rounder feels he will continue playing T20 cricket until the next World Cup in 2024.
Shakib is arguably the biggest name to emerge out of Bangladesh and has served the national team for a long time. The 36-year-old has accumulated over 11000 international runs across formats and has also taken more than 600 wickets across formats.
The veteran all-rounder told T-Sports channel about his retirement plans:
"As far as international career is concerned, what I see at this moment it is up to 2025 Champions Trophy that is the ODI format. The T20 format is up to 2024 World Cup and that's it.
"As far as Test goes, may be sooner, maybe after the World Cup. May be I will retire from three formats at the same time, and no one can tell about future, but at this moment, I have such an idea."
The left-arm spinner also has had multiple stints as an all-format captain but is yet to win an ICC title for the team.
"I won't lead in ODIs after that" - Shakib al Hasan on plans after 2023 World Cup
Shakib also added that the captaincy responsibility was thrust on him due to unusual circumstances and that he agreed to do it for the team. The 36-year-old elaborated:
"As far as reality goes, I will lead till this World Cup, and I won't lead in ODIs after that. Let me clear one thing - I resigned as captain on (September ) 17th, and when I did that, I did not know that this kind of situation was coming up.
"Papon (Nazmul) bhai and team management said that they need me as captain. Not for me, but for the team, and I agreed."
Bangladesh will partake in warm-up games against Sri Lanka and England before opening their campaign on October 7 against Afghanistan.