‘Negative’ Shakib to play final following side hustle

Yesterday, when Fortune Barishal captain Shakib Al Hasan did not show up at the photo session event, which featured the two captains of the Bangladesh Premier League finalists, eyebrows were raised at first and confusions further amplified when two different versions behind Shakib's absence were relayed to the media.

While Barishal media manager informed Shakib had an upset stomach, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Barishal's proxy captain, mentioned he saw Shakib at the gym before arriving for the photoshoot.

Turns out, Shakib was involved at a different photoshoot, related to advertisement. Did Shakib breach BPL's covid protocol, was the pertinent question, even though the BPL authorities had replaced the typical bio-bubble protocol this time with Managed Event Environment (MEE), a much more lenient version compared to the former.  

However, BCB physician Monjur Chowdhury informed the Daily Star that Shakib came back to hotel while having maintained covid protocol properly and returned negative on his Covid test afterwards.

Thus, the star player is cleared to play in the final of the BPL today as his side take on Comilla Victorians from 5:30 pm local time at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.