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Shakib’s U-turn
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leaving for Dubai on March 6 to fulfill a commercial commitment that he was not mentally nor physically fit to play cricket. But by that time, the board had already included Shakib for both the ODI and Test series in South Africa.
The next day Hassan raised questions about Shakib’s sincerity, asking the media whether the left-hander would have done the same thing if it was ahead of the Indian Premier League instead.
After a meeting, the BCB decided to grant Shakib a break for two months from all forms of cricket till April 30. Upon his return from Dubai on March 10, Shakib spoke to the BCB boss and, after another meeting at the home of cricket in Mirpur, the star cricketer eventually changed his mind.
“I spoke to [BCB president Nazmul Hassan] Papon bhai over the past few days and we managed to make a plan for the whole year. Since I am a part of all three formats [in the latest central contract list], I will always be available for all three formats. The board will decide when it is necessary to rest me and that goes for the South Africa series as well. So I am available for the South Africa series,” Shakib said after the meeting at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
On the other hand, Hassan stated that the cricketer was mentally disturbed, which is why he had problems with his decision-making. He also asked the media to stop speculating about possible reasons when a player asks to rest or is left out of the team.
“If someone does not play a series or two, there is no reason to speculate. The board might even decide to drop players and try someone new. I would like to ask you to take this sportingly. It’s part of the game and happens all over the world.”
“Since Shakib has told us that he is feeling mentally disturbed, we should be giving him our support. All the talk shows and discussions speculating about it are not good in that context. We have to stand beside someone when they are suffering mentally or physically. Do not speculate because that causes more problems,” Hassan told the media.
Bangladesh will play the first of three ODIs against South Africa on March 18 in Centurion. The second and third ODIs are scheduled for March 20 and 23 in Johannesburg and Centurion respectively. The first Test will begin on March 30 in Durban while the second and final Test will start on April 7 in Port Elizabeth.

Turkmenistan votes for father-son transition
AFP, Ashgabat
Voting was underway in Turkmenistan yesterday for a tightly-controlled leadership election that is all but certain to yield ex-Soviet Central Asia’s first father-son succession.
Nine candidates are in the fray in the republic of six million people, but President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who tolerates no opposition and has dominated public life since the country’s founding president died in 2006, is not among them.
Berdymukhamedov senior signalled his decision to step aside last month and allow “young leaders” to govern.
The announcement has seen the role of victor-in-waiting fall to his son, Serdar Berdymukhamedov, 40, who has rapidly risen to the top of government.
A state television announcer confirming the beginning of voting at 7:00 am (0200 GMT) on Saturday said the elections showed “the irreversibility of the process of democratisation of modern Turkmen society”.
Polling stations that will close at 7:00 pm (14:00 GMT) were busy on a cloudy day in the capital Ashgabat, with young Turkmen wearing either suits with black ties or embroidered ankle-length red dresses chatting and giggling in the queues.
Gulya Agayeva, 20, told AFP she had been encouraged to vote by her teachers.
“They said it is our civic duty, that our future depends on our choice,” Agayeva said, confirming that she had cast her vote for Berdymukhamedov junior.
Officials contacted by AFP were unable to confirm when preliminary results would be announced.
An inauguration ceremony has been scheduled for March 19, state media said on Friday.
Berdymukhamedov senior, 64, benefits from a glitzy leadership cult that includes a golden statue of him on horseback and elicits comparisons to North Korea -- a country that has already witnessed two hereditary successions.
Turkmen state television pays fawning tribute to his hobbies -- horse riding, songwriting and rally car driving to name a few -- and the so-called “protector” is a phenomenon on foreign social media, all of which are blocked.
The leader, who claims Turkmenistan has not suffered a single case of coronavirus, said last month that he wishes to remain in politics in his parallel role as chairman of the parliament’s upper chamber.
Much less is known about Serdar Berdymukhamedov, whose government promotions received little public attention until he entered parliament in 2016.
Since then he has been a deputy foreign minister, the head of a province and industry and construction minister.
Last year he won a triple promotion, taking up roles as deputy cabinet chair, auditor general and member of the security council.
Civil servant Selbi Nepesova, 39, told AFP that Serdar Berdymukhamedov’s official biography proves he is “the most experienced” of the candidates, despite being younger than his rivals, most of whom are low-ranking government employees.
“He will have his father close by,” the Ashgabat resident said, explaining her decision to vote for him.
Turkmenistan’s economy is almost wholly dependent on natural gas sales, making it vulnerable to external shocks that have crippled the purchasing power of citizens, who have no access to hard currency.
China has come to dominate this trade, with one-time top customer Russia’s demand for the fuel now under doubt amid crippling sanctions connected to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkmen state media has almost completely ignored the bloody war taking place in Europe.
But on Friday it referenced “complicated circumstances” in Ukraine in a report on the evacuation of Turkmen students forced to flee the country.
Predictably, the mouthpiece gave the outgoing president credit for ensuring the evacuation.
The returning students “expressed their deep sincere gratitude to the leader of the nation for his truly fatherly care”, the state information service TDH claimed.
Turkmenistan’s upcoming father-son switch will be the first of its kind in Central Asia, despite erstwhile predictions of family rule in Turkmenistan’s larger neighbours Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Across the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region, Azerbaijan became the first ex-Soviet country to establish a dynasty when its current president Ilham Aliyev took the helm upon father Heydar Aliyev’s death in 2003.
Tajikistan, the bloc’s poorest successor state, is expected to follow a similar path, with upper house head Rustam Emomali, 34, in pole position to succeed veteran leader Emomali Rakhmon, 69, should Rakhmon retire or prove unable to fulfil his duties.