Bangladesh captain Shakib banned for two years in graft case: ICC

A two-year ban was imposed on Bangladesh captain and star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan on Tuesday from all cricket activities, with one year suspended, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced.

The ban was imposed after Shakib pleaded guilty to ‘three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code’, the sport’s governing body said in a statement.

The charges included him failing to disclose to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) full details of approaches or invitations made in relation to the Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe Tri-Series in January 2018 as well as the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL), it said.

The 32-year-old’s ban is a big blow for Bangladesh, who were gearing up to face India in upcoming Test, and T20 series under him next month. Shakib has a vast experience of playing in 56 Tests, 206 ODIs and 76 Twenty20 internationals. He is Bangladesh’s most popular cricketer and best known having topped the ICC all-rounder rankings in all three formats several times since 2009.

He lead his team from the front at the recently concluded World Cup, scoring a whopping over 600 runs and picking up 11 wickets to stamp his authority asone of the best all-rounders of his time .

In the World Cup, he also became the fastest and only the fifth cricketer to reach the milestone of 5,000 runs and 250 wickets in ODIs.

Shakib will be free to resume international cricket Oct. 29, 2020 subject to him satisfying the conditions in respect of the suspended part of the sanction, the ICC 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,” shakib was quoted as saying in the ICC statement.

There was no immediate comment from the country’s cricket authorities, who were expected to name the squad for the India tour on Wednesday.

But Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina threw his support to back Shakib in every possible way. She said that the country’s cricket board “will always be with Shakib and will help him in every way.”

She said that while match-fixers often contact players, Sbakib’s “mistake is that when he was contacted he didn’t give it too much importance. He didn’t inform... the ICC.”

Having grown up in a rural town west of the capital Dhaka, shakib burst into the international scene after excelling in age-level cricket.

He is possibly Bangladesh’s most loved cricketer and only last week successfully led a brief strike by Bangladesh’s professional cricketers to press for better pay and benefits.

But this is not the first time the left arm orthodox spinner and left handed batsman has faced disciplinary actions.

Last week Bangladesh cricket authorities said they would also take legal action against shakib for allegedly breaching his contract to sign a sponsorship deal with a top mobile phone operator. Shakib inked the agreement with former national team sponsor Grameenphone for an undisclosed sum at a time when he was also leading the players’ strike.

Meanwhile, Mominul Haque has been named captain of the Bangladesh Test team while Mahmudullah will lead the T20I side in their upcoming tour of India in the wake of the suspension handed out to current incumbent Shakib Al Hasan by the International Cricket Council, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) reportedly announced on Tuesday.

Taijul Islam has been named as Shakib’s replacement in the Test and T20I sides. Mohammad Saifuddin, who was ruled out of the series with injury and Tamim Iqbal who is sitting out due to personal reasons, have been replaced by Abu Haider Rony and Mohammad Mithun respectively.

Pace spearhead Mustafizur Rahman also makes a return to the Test squad.

T20I squad: Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Mahmudullah (c), Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Animul Islam, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Arafat Sunny, Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shaiful Islam, Abu Haider Rony, Mohammad Mithun, Taijul Islam.

Test squad: Shadman Islam, Imrul Kayes, Saif Hasan, Mominul Haque (c), Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mossadek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraj, Taijul Islam, Naeem Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Al Amin Hossain, Ebadot Hossain.