Shakib banned for not reporting bookie approach
DHAKA: Bangladesh captain and star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was on Tuesday handed a twoyear suspension by the ICC for failing to report three corrupt approaches, including one at the IPL, by a suspected Indian bookie, ousting him from the upcoming tour of India. Twelve months of that ban is a suspended sentence which will come into effect if Shakib fails to comply with ICC’s anti-corruption code.
The one-year ban that he has to serve will keep him out of next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) and also the World T20 to be held in Australia from October 18 to November 15 the same year.
“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,” Shakib said in a media release given by the ICC.
The 32-year-old was being kept away from team’s ongoing practice sessions before the India tour on ICC’s instructions. The series against India comprises three T20 Internationals and two Tests and gets underway in Delhi with the shortest format games on November 3. Shakib was spoken to by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit in January and August this year and he failed to report the approaches made to him by “an individual known to the ACU and suspected of involvement in corruption in cricket, Deepak Aggarwal.” The ICC said Aggarwal had asked Shakib to provide information on team composition and strategy on three separate occasions, one of them being April 26, 2018 when his IPL franchise Sunrisers
Hyderabad was to take on Kings XI Punjab.
“These messages on 26 April 2018 included a number of deleted messages. He confirmed that these deleted messages contained requests from Mr Aggarwal for Inside Information,” the ICC stated. Aggarwal’s other two approaches were during the Bangladesh Premier League when Shakib was playing for Dhaka Dynamites in 2017, followed by the tri-series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in January 2018. Aggarwal, the ICC said, wanted to meet Shakib but the cricketer didn’t oblige as “he had concerns over Mr Aggarwal, feeling he was a bit ‘dodgy’.
MOMINUL TO LEAD
Mominul Haque has been named captain of the Bangladesh Test team while Mahmudullah will lead the T20I side in their upcoming tour.