Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan insisted that they need to know about Shakib al Hasan's availability before appointing him as the successor of Tamim Iqbal as next ODI skipper of the national team.
The post went vacant following Tamim's decision to step down as ODI captain recently due to his back injury. During the same press conference, BCB officials insisted that they will appoint their next ODI skipper for two years.
Shakib, who is the current Test and T20I skipper, had previously led Bangladesh in 50-overs cricket, including the World Cup in 2011.
Initially Nazmul said that Litton Das will replace Tamim as ODI skipper if he is unavailable in the forthcoming Asia Cup but as the left-hander decided to step down now Shakib has appeared as the front-runner for the post due to his rich experience at the highest level.
"We have not discussed captaincy yet. We have to take a break and think about it. As I have said before, if it was one series, we could have gone with the vice-captain (Litton) but now we have to think long term," Nazmul told reporters in Dhaka on Saturday.
"There are two problems. If we think about the long term it is one thing. But there is the World Cup as well and the pressure of the World Cup is not small. If I select a new guy and whether he can take this pressure - we need to consider that as well. If we choose someone on a long term basis and he is not available after one year, what will we do? So we need to discuss these things," he said.
"Shakib is the obvious choice but can you say he will play for two years? We don't know that and so we need to know his plan and talk with the board. I think the easiest choice is Shakib and there is no problem with it," he said.
"Leading in the bilateral series and World Cup are two different things. And whether that influences his (Litton) batting or not, we need to see everything. We will take a decision without hurrying it up," he said.
Bangladesh need to quickly appoint their next ODI captain as the selection panel is unable to name their squad without knowing the leader of the 50-over format team.
Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha is expected to arrive on August 8 and later start skill training of his charges to prepare for the upcoming Asia Cup, scheduled to be played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from August 30.
