State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam has urged all to stand beside Bangladesh’s Test and T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan strongly. “There’re ICC (International Cricket Council) rules. BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) will look into it. But as citizens of the country, all must stand beside Shakib,” he said in a message shared on his Facebook wall.
Shahriar said he expects that all media outlets in the country and those Bangladeshi citizens who are representing foreign media outlets here would stand beside Shakib strongly. The State Minister said it has become a practice of making misleading headlines centring politicians. “Kindly, don’t do this with Shakib or with any other sportsperson who has brought international reputation for the country.”
He said Shakib Al Hasan one of the significant names among those became assets for Bangladesh in the post-Liberation era. “Shakib brought smiles on our faces amid much pain.” Shahriar said Shakib appeared the best players among the bests seeing whom they grew up. “It was not considered by me or you. But the statistics and the ICC said this repeatedly.” He urged all not to tag the issue unnecessarily with anything else. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is investigating the allegation against Shakib Al Hasan and the decision about him is expected to be known today (Tuesday), said State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russell.
“The whole thing is ambiguous to us. We’ve talked to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) but they’ve no idea about it. We’ll remain with Shakib so that he doesn’t face any penalty unjustly,” he said while talking to reporters at the Secretariat.