Bangladesh vice-captain Taskin Ahmed said on Tuesday that contrary to reports, he had not been dropped for last month's T20 World Cup clash against India on account of missing the team bus.
Reports suggested Taskin was left out of India game for missing team bus
News had emerged yesterday that the fast bowler had overslept the night before the match, which was scheduled for 10:30am local time in Antigua on June 22. As a result, he missed the team bus as they departed for the stadium, and an official from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) remained at the team hotel in order to deal with the situation.
Taskin eventually reached the ground after the rest of the team, and apologised to his teammates. He did not play the match though, and was replaced by batter Jaker Ali. At the time, it appeared that Bangladesh wanted to play an extra batter in order to better compete with India's lineup on a good run-scoring wicket. He also came straight back into the team for the next match against Afghanistan.
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Shakib: "Taskin reached the ground five-ten minutes before the toss"
BCB officials made it clear that whether or not Taskin's exclusion was a direct result of him missing the bus was a question that could only be answered by head coach Chandika Hathurusingha.
But on Tuesday (July 3), Bangladesh squad member Shakib Al Hasan seemed to imply Taskin was left out for being late as he told reporters in Dhaka, "Taskin reached the ground five-ten minutes before the toss. So it was a tough call for the management, tough for the player as well. Taskin apologised to the whole team. Everyone makes mistakes. It was unintentional. The matter was over there itself."
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Taskin refutes claims that he was dropped for missing team bus
When asked about the incident by a Bangladesh newspaper Ajker Patrika, Taskin differed slightly in his version of events, saying, "I was a little late, but I reached at the ground before the toss. I arrived at the ground around 30-40 minutes before the toss.
"I missed the team bus. The bus left the hotel at 8.35am. I left for the ground at 8.43am. I almost reached the ground with the bus. It is not as if they didn't pick me because I arrived late. I wasn't going to play anyway."
At this point, it is unconfirmed why exactly the player was left out but Taskin had attended the pre-match press conference the previous day, a strange choice on the part of the team if they had planned to drop him anyway.
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