Shakib Al Hasan is among five Bangladesh men's cricketers to be handed central contracts by the BCB for all three formats this year. The decision was taken despite Shakib's unavailability for four Tests so far this year.
Shakib skipped the New Zealand Tests in January citing personal reasons, and created a stir when he said his condition - physical and mental - wasn't allowing him to tour South Africa later this month. The BCB subsequently granted him "rest" from all international cricket matches till April 30.
On Wednesday, the BCB's cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus said that Shakib had stepped back from his initial request to keep him away from Tests till mid-November. But the announcement on Thursday suggests the BCB was expecting Shakib to be available for the rest of the Tests this year.
Apart from Shakib, the BCB continued with Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam for the all-formats contracts, just as they had in 2021.
Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Yasir Ali are the two new entrants with Test contracts, while the BCB offloaded Mohammad Saifuddin, Soumya Sarkar, Saif Hassan, Abu Jayed and Shamim Hossain.
Similar to last year's contracts, Tamim Iqbal, who announced that he was taking a six-month break from T20Is this year, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz have been handed Test and ODI contracts.
Mahmudullah, who retired from Tests last year, and Mustafizur Rahman have ODIs and T20Is in their contracts. Taijul Islam got a slight demotion after he was given a Test-only contract, a change from his Test and ODI contract last year.
The BCB, however, didn't announce the monthly salaries or the match fees for each format.
Meanwhile, the BCB has "rested" Shakib Al Hasan from all forms of international cricket till April 30. According to cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus, the BCB considered Shakib's plea for a break from cricket due to his mental and physical state.
The exemption, as the BCB later called it in a press release, covers Bangladesh's tour of South Africa where they will play three ODIs and two Tests from March 12 to April 8. Shakib was initially named in both the squads but three days after the announcement, he said that he wanted a break from international cricket.
