Will Shakib Al Hasan & Mashrafe Mortaza Return To Bangladesh: With the change of government in Bangladesh, the environment of cricket has also started changing. Just hours after the swearing-in of the Tariq Rahman-led BNP government, the new Sports Minister Aminul Haq has given a clear indication that he wants to see legendary all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and former captain Mashrafe Mortaza once again in the mainstream of Bangladeshi cricket. This step is being considered a big initiative towards ending the political and sports tension that has been going on for the last few months.

New strategy different from the strict attitude of Yunus government

During the interim government led by Mohammad Younis, a strict attitude was adopted towards Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza. The then sports advisor Asif Mahmood had even said that those whose hands were stained with people’s blood would not be allowed to wear the national jersey. However, Aminul Haq has said that he wants early resolution of the murder and corruption cases registered against these veterans at the state level, so that the path for their return to the country can be cleared.

Trying to keep sports and politics separate

Sports Minister Aminul Haq, himself a former Bangladeshi football captain, has stressed on keeping sports and politics separate. BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul has also clarified that whether a player will remain in the team or not should depend on his form and not his politics. This statement puts an end to the speculations that these players’ careers were completely over due to their association with the Awami League.

Bangladesh Cricket Board keeping an eye on the future

There is currently an atmosphere of turmoil within the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). Amidst the resignation of several directors and infighting, the Sports Minister has termed the previous elections of the board as suspicious. He has indicated that he will soon hold a meeting with the board officials, so that the administrative shortcomings can be removed.

A new government has been formed in Bangladesh. After taking oath as the Prime Minister, Tariq Rehman has intensified his efforts to improve the relations with India which had deteriorated in the last one year. Bangladesh’s new Sports Minister Aminul Haq has said that he wants to improve relations with India.

After taking oath as Sports Minister, Aminul Haq said that he wants to improve relations with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and India and want to resolve all the issues soon.

He said, “After taking the oath, I met the Deputy High Commissioner of India at the Parliament House. Talked to him on the T20 World Cup. It was a good conversation. I told him that we want to resolve this issue quickly through talks. We want to maintain friendly relations with all neighboring countries.”

Aminul Haq said, “We want good relations with India in sports as well as in other fields. Due to political problems, we could not play the T20 World Cup. If there had been discussions, those issues would have been resolved and our team would have been part of the World Cup.”

After the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, BCCI had ordered KKR to drop Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from its IPL 2026 team. KKR had accepted the board’s order. After this, Bangladesh Cricket Board refused to send its team to India for the World Cup 2026 and demanded ICC to shift its matches to Sri Lanka. ICC did not accept Bangladesh’s demand, after which, on the advice of its government, Bangladesh Cricket Board had decided to pull out of T20 World Cup 2026. Instead of Bangladesh, ICC had given place to Scotland in the World Cup.