The Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has made a shocking twist, reversing his retirement and returning to Test and T20I cricket.
The veteran cricketer, who announced his T20I retirement in September 2024, has not played a single international match in over a year, after announcing his retirement from Tests and T20Is last year.
The former Bangladesh captain is one of the cricketers who had certain political orientations and has been out of action for over a year.
With only few months away from Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, Shakib Al Hasan has come out of his international retirement and wishes to participate across all formats of the game.
He has revealed that he wished to play a complete series before he announced retirement from international cricket.
“I am officially not retired from all formats,” said Shakib on a podcast which featured Moeen Ali. “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.
“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,” Shakib Al Hasan added.
While asked about if he would be picked to play for Bangladesh after being out of action for the last year.
“I am hopeful. That’s why I’m playing [T20 leagues]. I think it will happen,” Shakib answered.
Earlier, Shakib Al Hasan was welcomed to play for Bangladesh, but sports adviser Asif Mahmud declared that Shakib would not be allowed to play for the country after he sent wishes to former PM Sheikh Hasina on her birthday.
The all-rounder hasn’t returned to the country since May 2024, after the Awami League government was dissolved on August 05. Shakib Al Hasan was an MP for that party.
He also named in an FIR for an alleged murder case, although he was not in the country at that time.
After that, he continued playing tests across Pakistan and India, however, the Test against India was the last time he played international cricket.
“[I have] done my cricketing part. Maybe the political side is left,” he said. “It’s something I want to do for the people of Bangladesh and the people of Magura. That was my intention, and it is still my intention. Let’s see where Allah takes me.”
Shakib Al Hasan had further informed that he wants to play only for his fans who kept faith in his abilities and backed him over the rough patches in his career.
“I think when a player says something, they try to stick to their words,” he said. “They normally don’t change it all of a sudden. It doesn’t matter if I play well or not. I might play a bad series after that, if I want to play. But I don’t need to do that.
“I think this is enough. It’s just a nicer way to say bye to the fans that they supported me always, give something back to them, playing a home series,” Shakib Al Hasan concluded.
Bangladesh do not have any schedule until Men’s T20 World Cup and will play their next international game against West Indies on February 07 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
