BCB denies reports of Shakib kneeling down

Mirpur:

Bangladesh Cricket Board on Sunday clarified that the controversial photo and report published in a local vernacular daily that national captain Shakib Al Hasan was made to kneel in front of BCB president Mustafa Kamal was "purely an assumption and a totally false impression of the actual facts".

In a statement issued, the BCB made it clear that the report that Shakib apologised for countering Kamal's questioning of the commitment of the players at a players' felicitaion function on January 22 was completely false.

"Our attention has been drawn to a photo published in the sports page of a national daily newspaper on consecutive days (Saturday, 23 January and Sunday, 24 January 2010) and news reports concerning BCB President Mustafa Kamal and Bangladesh national team captain Shakib Al Hasan.

"The caption of the photo has been written based purely on assumption and was a totally false impression of the actual facts. The photo was taken during a conversation between the BCB President and the national team captain and was far from what the caption had indicated," the statement said.

"The BCB President and the National Team Captain had an informal chat after a reception programme where both discussed ways forward for the national team. The BCB President also sought views of the captain on a number of areas. The discussion was very cordial and at no stage was there a situation which called for an apology on part of the captain," it added.