Abdur Razzak becomes a BCB selector

Abdur Razzak and Shahriar Nafees have been the two names discussed for the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) selector's job for quite a while now. 

And finally, the BCB have decided on their third selector, national team off-spinner Abdur Razzaq.

Akram Khan, the cricket operations chairman of the BCB has confirmed the news to The Business Standard (TBS) on Wednesday.

"The decision to make (Abdur) Razzaq a BCB selector has been finalised. He will be the BCB's third selector," Akram said to TBS.

Abdur Razzaq, who tops the wicket-takers list among Bangladeshi bowlers with 634 first-class wickets also expressed his delight at being named the third selector.

"I got the news in the evening. I had been approached for this position verbally, that too almost a year ago. I'm feeling really good about this. I'm a person who lives cricket and I want to be with cricket for the rest of my life. Getting the selector's role is a big honour and I'm really grateful to the board for this opportunity," he said.

Minhazul Abedin Nannu has been acting as the chief selector of BCB. Habibul Bashar Sumon is working as the selector. Sajjad Ahmed Shipon was also acting as a selector. The former cricketer, who played two ODIs for the country, was removed from the post of national selector in late 2016. The post has been vacant since then. Finally, BCB filled the gap with Razzak.

Razzak has not retired from international cricket yet. He has also been a regular performer in domestic cricket. Razzak played a match for Mohammedan Sporting Club in the Dhaka Premier League, which was closed due to a coronavirus outbreak. He has not yet decided whether he will be able to play despite being a selector.

'I still don't know whether I will continue to play or not. The board has not said anything about it yet. I haven't thought about it either. We haven't been able to play for a long time because of Covid. The opportunity to be a selector had come and I agreed. I will make a decision according to the situation after thinking a little," said the newly selected BCB selector.

Razzak mentioned that he will try to give his best from his place and that with total honesty. 

"I will try to ensure that the deserving ones are not deprived and get their opportunities rightly. It's not like everything will be done according to my wish, but I'll try honestly," Razzak added. 

The left-arm spinner has played 13 Tests, 153 ODIs and 34 T20Is for Bangladesh. He took 206 wickets in ODIs which is the third-highest among Bangladeshi bowlers. Razzak bagged more than 200 ODI wickets as well. He is also the third-highest wicket-taker among spinners in T20. He took 44 wickets in this format. However, he has not played any ODI or T20 match since 2014.