On Taskin Issue, Shakib Says: "The Whole Team Doesn't Stop for One Person"

Even before the controversy over the Bangladesh team's performance in the World Cup had died down, a new debate has emerged—this time about Taskin's sleep incident. The discussion centers around Taskin Ahmed, the vice-captain, who missed the team bus due to oversleeping before the match against India in the Super Eight in Antigua.

Reports suggest that Taskin was late to wake up that day, causing the team bus to leave for the stadium without him. As a result, he couldn't travel with the team to the ground. Allegedly, this is why he wasn't included in the playing eleven for the India match. However, Taskin was seen with the team during the national anthem before the match started.

Shakib Al Hasan has now spoken about this incident. Before departing for the United States, Shakib was asked about it at the airport and confirmed the incident's authenticity. Describing the details, Shakib said:

"In cricket, there's a rule that the team bus doesn't wait for anyone. If someone misses the bus, they come to the ground later by car. The transport support in the West Indies was quite challenging. When Taskin arrived, it was about 5-10 minutes before the toss. Naturally, it was difficult to include him in the team at that point. Taskin later apologized to everyone in the team for this. The team also took it normally. Everyone can make unintentional mistakes; he acknowledged that too. And that was the end of it."

In response to a question about whether Taskin could have been called from his room, Shakib said, "There is no such practice in cricket where someone is fetched from their room. The team never waits for anyone. In age-level cricket, there have even been instances where a player was running to catch the bus, but the door closed, and the bus left. The team's bus never stops. The whole team doesn't stop for one person."