Shakib Al Hasan Ban: ICC Shares WhatsApp Chat Between Bookie and Bangladesh All-Rounder

Dubai, October 30: Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib-al-Hasan has been handed a two-year ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for failing to report corrupt approaches made to him on multiple occasions since late 2017. Shakib, who has been found guilty of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code, was on Tuesday charged for not reporting approaches from an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal twice during a tri-series between Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in January 2018 and once during IPL in April 2018.

The Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC interviewed Hasan on two occasions this year in relation to an ongoing investigation into potential corrupt conduct under the ICC code and in suspicion of involvement of Aggarwal. The first interview was conducted on January 23 and the next one on August 27. Shakib Al Hasan Banned for Two Years from All Cricketing Activities After Breaching ICC Anti-Corruption Code.

According to the details of the interviews shared by the ICC, here's what was found:

During the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) in November 2017, Shakib was aware that his telephone number had been provided to Aggarwal by another person who was known to Shakib. Aggarwal had asked this other person to provide him with contacts of players playing in the league.

In mid-November 2017, at the instigation of Aggarwal, Shakib exchanged various WhatsApp messages with him in which Aggarwal sought to meet him.

In January 2018, Shakib was part of the Bangladesh team participating in a tri-series which included Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. During this series, he and Aggarwal engaged in further WhatsApp conversations. On 19 January 2018, he received a WhatsApp message from Aggarwal congratulating him for being named Man of the Match in that day's game. Aggarwal followed this message with a message saying "do we work in this or I wait til the IPL".

The mention of "work" in the message was a reference to Shakib providing inside information to Aggarwal.

Shakib did not report this contact from Aggarwal to the ACU or any other anti-corruption authority.

On January 23, 2018, Shakib received another WhatsApp message from Aggarwal in which the latter made another approach to him to provide inside information, saying "Bro anything in this series?" Shakib confirmed that this message was related to Aggarwal requesting inside information in relation to the ongoing tri-series, which he did not report to the ACU or any other anti-corruption authority.

On April 26, 2018, Shakib played in an IPL game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab. He received a WhatsApp message from Aggarwal that day asking him whether a particular player was going to be playing in the game that day, i.e. again asking for inside information.

Aggarwal continued this conversation with him by talking about bitcoins, dollar accounts and asked Shakib for his dollar account details. During this conversation, Shakib told Aggarwal that he wanted to meet him "first".

These messages on April 26, 2018 included a number of deleted messages. He confirmed that these deleted messages contained requests from Aggarwal for inside information.

Shakib told the ICC that he had concerns over Aggarwal, feeling he was a bit "dodgy", and that, following their conversations, he had the feeling that Aggarwal was a bookie.

He did not report any of the contact and approaches received from Aggarwal on April 26, 2018 to the ACU or any other anti-corruption authority.

The star Bangladesh all-rounder can return to international cricket only from October 29, 2020, satisfying the conditions in respect of the suspended part of the sanction.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 30, 2019 12:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).