The star player of Bangladesh Shakib Al Hasan, who recently got banned for two years by the International Cricket Council, looked dejected after failing to report several corrupt approaches. The all-rounder admitted he felt ashamed but stressed that he needed support to return to the game after a 15-minute meeting with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials.
Shakib said, “The way the Bangladesh Cricket board, fans, government, and media got behind me is really amazing. If the fans, BCB continue to lend their support to me, I will definitely come back strongly in cricket when the ban ends.”
He added, “I am sad that I have been banned from a sport that I love the most. But, for not informing about the illegal proposal to ICC and ACSU, I am accepting the punishment. ICC and ACSU rely on the cooperation of cricketers to avoid corruption but I could not help the ICC and ACSU properly. Like any other player, I too want cricket to be free from corruption.”
In respect to the suspended part of the sanction, Shakib will be free to resume international cricket on October 29 next year. In 2008 and 2009, the bookies had approached Shakib, but he disclosed these to the governing body. This time, however, when he was contacted twice at home during the 2018 tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and once during the 2018 IPL. These were not reported to the BCB.
BCB chairman Nazmul Hasan also expressed his disappointment and stressed that the approach was not known to the board.
Hasan said, “We are shocked. I don’t think anything could be more shocking than this. I have said many times that we don’t have a substitute for two players. As captain, Mashrafe, and as a player, Shakib. Even if we get a substitute for all the players, we won’t have the same for Shakib. So, him not being available is my first shock. Now we are going to play a very important series without him in India”.
“I am angry at the same time because he did not inform. Here we need to be very clear that BCB knew nothing… ACSU interacted with only Shakib. ACSU is a separate unit. We came to know just the results. Shakib told me first, 2-3 days back when the strike was withdrawn. We did not know how long he would be banned, Shakib informed us. Shakib is the one who informed us first.”
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