Bangladesh Cricket Board announce their annual contract list

Six players – Shoriful Islam, Saif Hassan, Mahedi Hasan, Nurul Hasan, Nasum Ahmed and Shamim Hossain – have earned maiden central contract as Bangladesh Cricket Board awarded a total of 24 national annual contracts.

Rewarded for their recent exploits in the international circuit, pacers Taskin Ahmed (who did not have a contract last year) and Shoriful have received an all-format contract alongside Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das, while Tamim Iqbal, Mehidy Hasan and Taijul Islam have missed the T20I contracts, to be given only Test and ODI deals.

This comes after a policy change in the BCB, as per which the annual contracts to players would be awarded as per specific formats of the game. Further, the list of contracted players has seen an increase from 17 to 24 this year.

Mohammad Mithun and Nayeem Hasan, who both were a part of the previous 17-member list, have not managed to get a spot this time. Shakib, who was serving a year ban on account of failing to approach corrupt approaches, is back into the mix as only one of the five all-format players, while Mahmudullah, who retired from Test cricket this year, has been given ODI and T20I deals. Tamim Iqbal, who recently opted out of T20 World Cup 2021, has been excluded from T20Is.

Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Mahedi Hasan, Nurul Hasan, Nasum Ahmed and Shamim Hossain, all six are T20I-only contracted players, while all six in Mominul Haque, Abu Jayed, Najmul Hossain, Shadman Islam, Saif Hassan and Ebadot Hossain are Test-only contracted.

No player has been given only-ODI contract, whereas apart from Mahmudullah, the ODI and T20I category has Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin and Afif Hossain.

Total contracted players: 24

All formats (five): Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam

Tests and ODIs (three): Tamim Iqbal, Mehidy Hasan and Taijul Islam

ODIs and T20Is (four): Mahmudullah, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Saifuddin and Afif Hossain

Only Tests (six): Mominul Haque, Abu Jayed, Najmul Hossain, Shadman Islam, Saif Hassan and Ebadot Hossain

Only T20Is (six): Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Mahedi Hasan, Nurul Hasan, Nasum Ahmed and Shamim Hossain