Bangladesh’s Test and T20I captain Shakib Al Hasan has been banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC), from all cricket for two years, with one year of that suspended, after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
He will now miss the upcoming tour of India in November but could possibly play in the latter stages of the T20 World Cup Down Under, next year, if Bangladesh were to advance to the knock-out stages.
The charges include failure to disclose details of approaches made by bookies to the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) during the 2018 tri-series involving Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and during the 2018 edition of the IPL. He was reportedly approached “to engage in corrupt conduct” during a game between his franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab on 26 April 2018.
— ICC (@ICC) October 29, 2019
Shakib Al Hasan said: “I am obviously extremely sad to have been banned from the game I love, but I completely accept my sanction for not reporting the approaches. The ICC ACU is reliant on players to play a central part in the fight against corruption and I didn’t do my duty in this instance.
“Like the majority of players and fans around the world, I want cricket to be a corruption free sport and I am looking forward to working with the ICC ACU team to support their education programme and ensure young players don’t make the same mistake I did.”
Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager stated, “Integrity stated that being a highly experienced international cricketer, Shakib should have been aware of his obligations under the Code and should have reported each of these approaches.”
He also revealed that the all-rounder co-operated fully with the investigation and even offered to assist the Integrity Unit in future education, to help younger players to learn from his mistakes.
Read the full media release here ➡️ https://t.co/oNrhhE33NH pic.twitter.com/2gFpBStSd3
— ICC (@ICC) October 29, 2019
It has been a tough couple of weeks for Shakib, who led the first-class cricketers in the country on a strike against the Bangladesh Cricket Board last week and later was under fire for failing to turn up for training sessions with the national team.
The 32-year-old was also issued a showcause notice by the BCB for a violation of a central contract clause after he signed an endorsement contract with a rival company of the team’s title sponsor.
Shakib is the No.1 ranked all-rounder in T20Is, according to the ICC player rankings and is highly sought after in franchise cricket around the world.
