‘Test will be the last format I retire from’

Bangladesh cricketer Shakib Al Hasan confirms that he harbors no desire to retire from Test cricket at this moment.

In a press conference the all-rounder laughed off suggestions that he is making a run from Test cricket and said “My target is to retire from Test cricket at the very end after I have retired from T20 and ODIs.”

The main theme of Shakib’s press event was that he needs to take a breather and refresh himself mentally.

The cricketer suggested that he mostly needs the break to relieve some mental pressure and feels it would allow him to play for the next five years without tension.

“I can play If I want to…but what do you guys want? That I play for another five to seven years or one to two years. If I keep playing like this– maybe I won’t be able to play behind one or two years,” Shakib suggested.

“However long I play for…I want to play well and that is my target.”

Asked why he chose Test cricket instead of the shorter formats of the game, Shakib said that he felt he needed a bigger break than usual.

“If you take a break from Test series you get a month off. If you take a break from a T20 series you get three days break and for an ODI series it’s only seven days.

“I needed a bigger break so I opted for the Test format.”

It’s not hard to imagine how much cricket Shakib has played in recent times. The climate in Bangladesh also means that the Tests against Australia have been grueling both on a mental and physical level.

Shakib is a major part of the Tigers’ setup in all three formats of the game – in that measure he plays a lot of cricket annually. One must also remember that Shakib has played a lot of cricket in franchise leagues all over the world – most recently in the Caribbean.

Yesterday night the premium all-rounder addressed fans in a facebook post and presented his case for why he sought a breather from Test cricket.

Source: thedailystar