Question has been raised from different strata of society whether country’s cricket board president had any active role behind International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ban on the world’s number one cricket player, Shakib Al Hasan.
Shattering the hearts of millions of cricket fans across the country, ICC on Tuesday evening banned the country’s ace all-rounder from all kinds of cricket for one year.
In scores of social media reactions, people are asking if Shakib became the victim of vengeance of his own cricket board.
Arguments are being placed by cricket fans that since the ace all-rounder led the two-day strike of the national team in last week, he became a prey to Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan Papon as the latter is dealing one after another blow to the T20 and Test captain of the country.
Thus, the BCB president, through a vulgar display of power, has made Shakib the centre of controversy ahead of Bangladesh’s first ever test series on Indian soil.
Shakib might face a ban, as per some media reports during last two days, for having failed to report a corrupt approach, regarding match fixing, to the Anti-Corruption Unit of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the same department of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The ace all-rounder, reportedly, could be banned for 18 months by ICC, if the allegation is proven. However, a recent report also said that ‘it is believed, that the ICC has so far not pressed any charges against Shakib’. According to a report published Tuesday in Bengali daily ‘Samakal’, it was on insistence of ICC that Shakib has been kept away from practice by the BCB.
“That’s the reason he neither featured in the practice games nor did he join the meeting late on Monday evening with the president to discuss pink ball Test,” the report said, adding the ICC has refrained from making any comment at this stage over the issue.
However, country’s cricket lovers and two cabinet members expressed their solidarity with Shakib. BCB, in face of mounting pressure from the media, also said they would do everything to save Shakib. However, experts and analysts think that it is a kind of vague support and Shakib might be the victim of BCB President Nazmul Hasan Papon’s vengeance. Since the strike ended last week, Shakib has been hit with various allegations. Especially, Papon was on Shakib’s case over and over again. He was criticizing Shakib every week for leading the players strike. Also criticized his captaincy regarding the Afghanistan Test defeat and Shakib has been under immense pressure since the strike ended.
In a recent interview, when he was asked about the match fixing allegation that he brought during the strike, Shakib denied that question and was reluctant to answer that. In another question, when he was asked that whether he is under any kind of pressure or not after leading the strike. He said, that even if he is under pressure he does not let people understand that. Since then, Shakib has been hit with constant allegations and is now on the verge of getting suspended, which ultimately will do nothing but damage the country’s cricket further. In 2008, Shakib faced the same situation and he reported BCB at that time. But this time around, he failed to report the incident to the authorities.