Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan excluded from Bangladesh’s central contract list

Former Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and suspended all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan have been dropped from the central contracts offered to the players by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

The BCB board of directors had held a meeting in which 16 players were selected that would be offered a central contract and only seven among them received the contract across all three formats. The contracts will expire after December 31 of the ongoing year.

Mortaza had stepped down as Bangladesh's skipper recently and thus was expected to not be given the national payroll. Shakib's ban will end on October 29, 2020, which also means that he won't be a part of Bangladesh's squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Thus, even he has been dropped from the contract list.

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Along with Mashrafe and Shakib, Imrul Kayes, Abu Hider Rony, Syed Khaled Hasan, Rubel Hossain, and Shadman Islam were also excluded from the contract list. All-rounder Mahmudullah and pacer Mustafizur Rahman were handed only white-ball contracts and were left out of the red-ball contract list.

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Newly-appointed ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, batsmen Liton Das, Nazmul Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, and spinners Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan were the seven players who got contracts for all three formats.

Mominul Haque, who is Bangladesh's skipper in Test cricket, spinner Nayeem Hasan, pacers Abu Jayed and Ebadot Hossain were the ones that received the red-ball contract. Along with Mahmudullah and Mustafizur, Mohammad Saifuddin, Afif Hossain, and Mohammad Naim were given only ODI contracts.