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Shakib handed two-year ban by ICC

The all-rounder accepted the charges against him and agreed the sanction with the ICC

Shakib handed two-year ban by ICC PHOTO: AFP

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned Bangladesh captain Shakibal Hasan from all forms of cricket for two years, with one year of that suspended, after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.

The charges against Shakib are as follows:

Article 2.4.4 – Failure to disclose to the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in Corrupt Conduct - in relation to the Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe Tri-Series in January 2018 and / or the 2018 IPL.

Article 2.4.4 – Failure to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in Corrupt Conduct - in relation to a second approach in respect of the Tri-Series in January 2018.

Article 2.4.4 – Failure 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 April 26, 2018.

Shakib accepted the charges against him and agreed the sanction with the ICC in lieu of an Anti-Corruption Tribunal hearing.

“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,” said Shakib. “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.”

“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,” he added.

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The all-rounder will be allowed to resume international cricket on October 29, 2020, provided he meet the conditions in the suspended part of his sanction.

Earlier, Bangladesh cricket authorities, on Saturday, claimed that they would take legal action against star Shakib for allegedly breaching his contract to sign a sponsorship deal with a top mobile phone operator.

Shakib, on Tuesday, inked the agreement with former national team sponsor Grameenphone for an undisclosed sum at a time when he was also leading a players´ strike for better pay and benefits.

Shakib led the players' strike on Monday which followed increasing criticism from players that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was not sharing its wealth.

The players called off the strike late on Wednesday and started training on Friday for next month's India tour after the BCB accepted most of their demands.