The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday banned Bangladeshi cricketer Shakib al-Hasan from all forms of cricket for two years, with one year of that suspended. The swashbuckling all-rounder Shakib who made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club on 6 August 2006 was banned, after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code of which the charges are as follows
1) Article 2.4.4 – Failure to disclose to the ACU 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 / or the 2018 IPL.
2) Article 2.4.4 – Failure to 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.
3) Article 2.4.4 – Failure 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.
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“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 after the ban was imposed.
The news of Shakib being banned for two years for failing to report "approaches to indulge in corrupt practices" is huge and terrible for the game in Bangladesh. Shakib is thier highest earning cricketer and was in the best position to set an example by reporting an offer
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 29, 2019
While I felt two years was harsh the more I read and think I have to say Shakib must have known what he was doing and that withholding info wasn’t an inadvertent act but rather a very deliberate one. Plain stupid from a player of his stature.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) October 30, 2019
Shakib has been banned before too; in 2014, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had imposed a 6-month ban. Apparently, Shakib had gone to play a T20 league in a foreign country without informing his cricket board and it was also reported that he had misbehaved with the then coach Chandika Hathurusingha. Citing these disciplinary points, Shakib was banned for 6 months.
Speaking of his cricketing records, he is one of the most talented cricketers on the circuit right now and his records prove that. Shakib is the first Bangladeshi cricketer to score 4,000 ODI runs. He is the fastest all-rounder to score 5000 ODI runs and take 200 wickets. In 195 matches, he has scored 5577 runs at an average of 35.08 with a respectable strike rate of 81.26, including seven centuries and 40 fifties. When rolling the arm over comes in question the left arm orthodox finger spinner has 247 wickets under his belt at an average of 29.69.
Shakib has also been a great franchise cricketer too and his exploits in the Indian Premier League (IPL) are for everyone to see. He made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for the Kolkata Knight Riders against the Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on April 15, 2011. He went to the IPL auction draft in 2018 again and was cherry-picked by VVS Laxman for Sunrisers Hyderabad at a price tag of Rs 2 crore. His IPL record is not that bad either where he has amassed 746 runs in 45 innings of 63 matches with an impressive strike rate of 126.65 at an average of 21.31 which includes two fifties. Shakib has the best bowling record by a captain (5/20) in a T-20 match and is the only captain to take five wickets in n international T20 match.
Shakib has proved his mettle in the longest format of the game too. He is the fourth bowler to take 5 wicket haul against all Test playing nations. He became only the 7th batsman in the history of cricket to score a double century in the first innings and was dismissed for the Duck in the second. He is the third player after Sir Ian Botham and Imran Khan to score a century and take 10 wickets in a Test match. He is also the fastest all-rounder to score 3000 Test runs and take 200 Test wickets in as little as 54 matches. Overall, he has scored 3807 runs in 55 matches at an average of 39.66, including a double century, five centuries and 24 fifties. In the bowling department, he has taken 205 wickets at an average of 31.29, including 18 five wicket hauls.
Shakib has earned a lot of name, fame and admirers through his cricketing skills all around the globe, but one single mistake has cost him dear and two years of his prime cricketing career. If he had told the ICC about his contact with the bookie then and there, he could have avoided this predicament. It would not be a hyperbole to say that Shakib has essentially put the Bangla tigers on the map of cricketing world all on his own and the void left by him would be a difficult one to fill for Bangladesh team with the T20 World Cup looming next year.
Whatever Shakib’s wrongdoing might be, it cannot take away the fact that he is one of the brightest stars of the cricketing world and players of his pedigree are a rare breed nowadays who can contribute with both bat and ball in equal measures. The mistake of not reporting the bookies’ advances and getting banned must have broken the hearts of Bangladeshi supporters who seem to wear their hearts on the sleeve. The entire nation of Bangladesh is really passionate about its cricket and many youngsters look up to him as an idol. Hopefully, he learns from this mistake and bounces back because the game needs champion players like him. The fall from grace must be a tough pill to digest for him but for the moment he has to swallow his pride and the bitter pill.