ICC has announced punitive action against Bangladesh test and T20 Captain and one of he all time great all rounder Shakib Al Hasan for not complying with an ICC guideline. Shakib has been suspended from playing any form of competitive cricket for two years.

Reportedly he did not inform ICC on time the proposal of a bookie for match fixing. Shakib did not accept the proposal and no match has been harmed. Shakib however acknowledged his mistakes and agreed to collaborate with ICC for upholding the clean image of ICC. His acknowledgement reportedly reduced the span of suspension to one year. But during the year his conduct and behavior would come under ICC scrutiny. In our opinion the ICC action is extremely harsh as cricket has not been harmed at all for Shakib not informing ICC. No match has been fixed by him, neither he himself or he influenced any player in ball doctoring. Moreover, the timing of announcing such weird action has reasons to raise doubts and confusions about some rats about the motive.

In not too distant past for Australian Captain Steve Smith, Vice Captain David Warner and opening batsman Bancrot were suspended for a year for ball doctoring in a test match in South Africa. They served the term and duly returned to mainstream cricket. The actions of Aussie players definitely harmed cricket yet they got away with lesser punitive terms by ICC. The ICC action on Shakib’s lapse is definitely much harsher than what had been given to Aussie players.

There is no doubt that Shakib is a rare talent of World Cricket. An all rounder of exceptional breed has already set up so many enviable milestones. His achievements has already taken him in the exclusive club of cricket all rounder like Sir Ian Botham , Sir Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev. In some ways he has surpassed all. He is the premiere bowler for his team and bats at top order. He is also exceptional fielder in any position. He has single handedly won many matches for his team in all formats. Shakib also appears in T20 franchise all across cricket world. In recent time he led players protest against BCB demanding better treatment, more playing facilities and higher payment. While the accord among feuding parties were made certain quarter in BCB gave some indications of harsh actions against him about breaching contract with BCB through appearing for advertisement for a local company without permission of BCB.

However, announcement of ICC action against Shakib at a time when Bangladesh is set to fly out to India for a very important series has shocked and awed cricket fraternity of Bangladesh. It goes without saying that Shakib’s action hurts Bangladesh. An world class all rounder can not be replaced. He is one and three player. Player like Shakib comes only once in Millennium. BCB would have done much better in trying to reduce the span of his ban. They did not. Rather BCB boss sounded sour about Shakib before the announcement of ICC came. There are many indications that he knew about it when BCB was in discussions with Players about their demand. Without Shakib Bangladesh would definitely be in awkward position against mighty India in India.

In the meantime there has been angry reactions among Shakib’s fan and Bangladesh cricket admirers. All time great Indian Batsman Rahul Dravid thought the action against Shakib very harsh. Few other international players also echoed what the Mr Wall said about Shakib. Sourab Ganguly another star of Indian Cricket and just elected President BCCI mentioned that player like shakib appears only in a millennium. For Bangladesh not getting him for a year which would also cover T20 world championship is a huge loss.

We hope BCB would engage with ICC positively seeking reduction of suspension. Entire Bangladesh nation stands rock solid behind Shakib.

BDST: 1132 HRS, OCT 31, 2019
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