Shakib Al Hasan banned by ICC for 2 years

Bangladesh Test and T20I captain Shakib Al Hasan has been banned from all cricket for two years (one year suspended) by the International Cricket Council (ICC), after he "accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code". The ICC, in its detailed report, said that the Bangladesh cricketer admitted various failures to report corrupt approaches made to him. Under the provisions of the code, Shakib Al Hasan chose to admit to the charges and agreed on the sanction with the ICC in lieu of an Anti-Corruption Tribunal hearing, the statement said. "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 was quoted as saying in an ICC release.

"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," added the Bangladesh all-rounder.

According to the ICC, Shakib failed to report corrupt approaches during the Bangladesh's tri-series with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in in January 2018 as well as the Indian Premier League (IPL) later that year.

He also failed to report a second approach in respect to the tri-series and failed 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 had recently led a players' strike which follows increasing criticism from players that the Bangladesh Cricket Board was not sharing its wealth.

The players called off the strike late on October 23 and started training on October 25 for next month's India tour as the BCB accepted most of their demands.