Bangladesh's Test and T20 captain Shakib Al Hasan has been banned from all cricket for two years by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for failing to report three corrupt approaches, including one at the IPL, by a suspected Indian bookie.
The one-year ban that he has to serve will keep him out of the upcoming tour of India, next year's Indian Premier League (IPL) and also the World T20 to be held in Australia from 18 October to 15 November the same year.
Twelve months of that ban is a suspended sentence which will come into effect if Shakib fails to comply with the anti-corruption code of the world body.
“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 Al Hasan
“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,” he added.
The 32-year-old, who was lately being kept away from team's practice on ICC's instructions, accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code. These include:
- 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
- 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
- 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.
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 26 April 2018 when his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad was to take on Kings XI Punjab. Sunrisers won the game by 13 runs.
"These messages on 26 April 2018 included a number of deleted messages. He confirmed that these deleted messages contained requests from 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', and that, following their conversations, he had the feeling that Mr Aggarwal was a bookie," it added.
Shakib, who escaped the maximum punishment of five years for the offence, will not have the right to appeal as he accepted the ICC’s investigation and charges.
In his absence, senior-most player Mushfiqur Rahim might lead the team in Tests while one among Mahmudullah Riyadh Mosaddek Hosain is set to be the skipper in the three T20 Internationals.
Shakib recently spearheaded a players' strike before calling it off after the BCB assured that their demands, including a pay hike, will be fulfilled.
He is unarguably one of the greats of the game in Bangladesh with more than 11,000 runs and over 500 wickets across three formats.
The ICC said while Shakib's voluntary admission, cooperation during interviews worked in his favour, the fact that he failed to report advances made over months was an "aggravating" factor.
"Al Hasan is an experienced international cricketer who, having participated in several anti-corruption education sessions, was fully aware of his responsibilities under the Code," the world body said in its judgement.
(With inputs from PTI)
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