DHAKA, Oct 29, 2019 (BSS)- International Cricket Council (ICC) today banned Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan for two years but the cricket legend may return to the field after 12 months as the second year of the tenure would be treated as pending suspension.
Under the provisions of the code, Shakib, the Test and T20 captain of Bangladesh chose to admit three charges and agreed the sanction with the ICC in lieu of an Anti-Corruption Tribunal hearing.
Subject to him satisfying the conditions in respect of the suspended part of the sanction, he will be freed to resume international cricket on October 29, 2020.
Shakib was approached by the bookies in 2010 and 2103 also but during that time he disclosed those facts to the ICC and the action was not taken. But this time when he approached twice in 2018 Tri-series that involved Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka and once in IPL 2018, he didn’t inform this matter.
The three charges that brought against him was to failure to disclose to the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in Corrupt Conduct – in relation to the Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe Tri-Series in January 2018 and the 2018 IPL, said a press release of ICC today.
Shakib didn’t disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in Corrupt Conduct – in relation to a second approach in respect of the Tri-Series in January 2018, the release said.
And the ace all-rounder fails to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in Corrupt Conduct – in relation to an IPL 2018 match between Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kings XI Punjab on 26 April 2018.
There wasn’t clear explanation from the all-rounder as to why he didn’t disclose the matter to ICC when he earlier disclosed. But he accepted all charges.
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.”
Shakib Al Hasan is currently ranked 1 all-rounder in ODI cricket while he is ranked to 2 in T20 and No.3 in Test cricket.
He is also the highest-wicket for Bangladesh in all format of the cricket and second highest run-getter.
Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager – Integrity said: “Shakib Al Hasan is a highly experienced international cricketer. He has attended many education sessions and knows his obligations under the Code. He should have reported each of these approaches.
“Shakib has accepted his errors and cooperated fully with the investigation. He has offered to assist the Integrity Unit in future education, to help younger players to learn from his mistakes. I am happy to accept this offer.”