‘It was a silly mistake, I regret that’- Shakib Al Hasan on being complacent regarding ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code

Shakib Al Hasan was one of Bangladesh’s star performers in the 2019 World Cup, but the year didn’t end well for him. In October, the International Cricket Council (ICC) banned him for two years, with one year suspended, after the all-rounder failed to report three corrupt approaches by an Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal, who was later banned for two years.

In Shakib’s absence, Bangladesh played the away series against India and Pakistan, winning only a solitary game in New Delhi. Shakib couldn’t play the Bangabandhu BPL as well. Talking about the incident, the veteran said that he took the matter a tad ‘casually’. The Magura-born also considered himself lucky as he left that a bit more goof-up could’ve led to a harsher punishment.

I shouldn’t have made that decision: Shakib Al Hasan

“I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened,” Shakib told to Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz.

“To be honest, that’s the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I’d have been banned for five or 10 years. But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I’ve played and the amount of ICC’s anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn’t have made that decision, to be honest,” he stated.

Shakib regrets the decision and firmly believes that one should alert the necessary personnel in case of any suspicious occurring.

“I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that’s the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson,” Shakib added.

Shakib last played competitive cricket in the 2019 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) back in October 2019 where he represented Jason Holder’s Barbados Tridents. Currently, he has been trying to help the ones affected in the coronavirus pandemic.

He auctioned off his 2019 World Cup bat and also helped the needy though his foundation. A couple of months ago, he and his wife Umme Ahmed Shishir, became parents to a baby girl in the United States (US).