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Bangladesh vice-captain Taskin Ahmed has made startling revelations about why he was left out of the playing 11 for his side’s crucial Super-8 fixture vs India at Antigua.
Jaker Ali was the player named in Taskin’s place for that game, which saw India run out as comfortable victors at the end at North Sound.
Shakib al Hasan initially revealed that Taskin was dropped out of the side because he reached the stadium late on account of missing the team bus. Shakib further stated that he reached the stadium just “10 minutes before the toss”, thus making it very difficult for the team management to consider him for selection.
“The bus usually leaves at a certain time. It is the rule that the team bus doesn’t wait for anyone,” Shakib told reporters on Tuesday. “If by chance someone misses the bus, they can arrive in the managers’ car or a taxi.
“West Indies is a difficult place for transport. He arrived 5-10 minutes before the toss, so naturally it was difficult for the team management to select him. It was also a difficult situation for the player. Taskin apologised to the team, and everyone took it very normally. It was an unintentional mistake. It ended there.”
However, Taskin has refuted these claims in an interview that he gave to Ajker Patrika, which is a Dhaka-based newspaper. While he admitted that he indeed was late in reaching the stadium, it was not the reason for his ouster in the 11 for that game.
“I was a little late, but I reached at the ground before the toss. I arrived at the ground around 30-40 minutes before the toss. I missed the team bus. The bus left the hotel at 8.35 am. I left for the ground at 8.43 am. I almost reached the ground with the bus. It is not as if they didn’t pick me because I arrived late. I wasn’t going to play anyway.”
Taskin’s omission from the side in a crucial match at that stage raised a lot of eyebrows in Bangladesh, and no one was more surprised than Tamim Iqbal, who expressed his displeasure at that decision.
The incident also came up when BCB president Nazmul Hassan addressed a press conference following a board meeting on Tuesday. “When I saw that Taskin wasn’t in the XI, I called [team manager] Rabeed [Imam], who told me that Taskin missed the team bus,” Hassan said. “But [Rabeed said that] he is now in the field, he arrived a bit late.
“I will read the report from the concerned department.”