Shakib al Hasan will be axed from the national cricket team if he doesn’t terminate his controversial contract with Betwinner News, which is a surrogate promotion of online betting and gaming portal Betwinner, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan Papon clarified in a press conference on Thursday.
Shakib was in pole position to take over the captaincy for the upcoming Asia Cup, but the BCB had to postpone their squad announcement following the injury crisis and Shakib's involvement with the Betwinner News.
BCB has already sent a letter to Shakib to cancel the deal with Betwinner. He had to reply the mail within Thursday.
“We have no doubt in our minds that Betwinner News is a surrogate organization for betting, the board will have nothing to do with Shakib unless the contract is terminated,” Papon said to the media on Thursday.
Previously, Papon said that the board would not allow any cricketer to participate with a website that promotes betting or gambling. He also stated that if the news was genuine, appropriate action would be taken against Shakib.
Following the discussion, the BCB president stated that captaincy is far away to discuss, they might even eliminate Shakib from the squad if he does not opt-out of the agreement with Betwinner News.
"There is no chance of a second thought. We are not going to change our stance on the issue. I have always said that we would show zero tolerance to these kinds of things. The BCB will never allow these. We had to drop players like [Mohammad] Ashraful before for such issues." Papon stated.
"We have sent Shakib a letter and are supposed to get a reply today. He was due to reply to that yesterday but I've heard that he will do that today. So we'll have to wait a bit," he added.
The BCB boss has clearly stated that they will not accept Shakib's deal with Betwinner since it goes against their stance.
"There can't be any kind of involvement. He must cancel the deal. Otherwise, he won't be there in the team let alone be the captain. There is nothing to be discussed here. We have made our stance crystal clear," concluded the BCB president.
The squad for the Asia Cup, which begins on August 27, will be revealed on Friday or Saturday.
