Shakib Terminates his Sponsorship: According to Jalal Yunus, the chairman of BCB’s cricket operations, Shakib Al Hasan has canceled his sponsorship agreement with Betwinner News. The announcement follows BCB president Nazmul Hassan’s declaration that Shakib would never again represent Bangladesh if his “affiliation with a betting company” was not terminated.

Any meetings or locations that enable gambling are strictly prohibited under Bangladeshi legislation. It is against the law and the constitution of the nation to for gambling firms to operate. According to reports, Shakib’s sponsorship deal with the bookmaker was against the law.

In a social media post published on August 2, Shakib announced his collaboration with Betwinner News. Days later, Hassan declared that the board will look into Shakib’s sponsorship position. Then, Betwinner News announced on their homepage that it was a “sports news portal only” and had “no affiliation to any form of betting or gambling activity.”

Shakib had one day to decide whether to play for Bangladesh or preserve his sponsorship with the company, according to Hassan, who made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon. He claimed that Betwinner News was acknowledged by the BCB as a stand-in entity for Betwinner.

Hassan said, “The law is clear-cut about what companies are prohibited (by the BCB), and this company is related to betting. You can call Betwinner News as a news (company), but it is branded as a betting company. It is a part (of the betting company). We have said that it cannot be related (to a betting company).

“He (Shakib) has to decide if he wants to play for Bangladesh, or stay with betting. There’s no scope of keeping that association. He has to come out of it completely. Let alone the captaincy, he won’t be in the team. There’s no discussion. We have taken a very clear decision. Anyone who has any affiliation with a betting company can’t have a connection with the Bangladesh Cricket Board. We will not take him in the team unless we get a satisfactory answer from him.”

Shakib’s decision to pull out of the disputed agreement puts him back in contention to become the T20I skipper. Before he published the social media post, Shakib was initially expected to lead Bangladesh in the Asia Cup format. Bangladesh’s selection of their team for the competition was delayed due to the situation with Shakib and a number of injuries. Now that the deadline has passed, they’ll probably make the announcement on Saturday.