As he is gearing up to return to cricket, Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan called the one-year ban that he served for failing to report corrupt approaches a “blessing in disguise”.
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Shakib was handed a two-year ban, one year suspended, by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit on October 29 last year, for not reporting approaches from an alleged Indian bookie twice during a tri-series between Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in January 2018 and once during IPL in April 2018.
“…it helped me in many ways and mostly in positive ways. Lot of doors opened for me and I can think about life differently, it’s a blessing in disguise. I don’t regret this one year,” Shakib said in a video posted on his official YouTube channel.
“When a man comes back from this situation he is much more matured. Now I think differently than before and it will surely help me in my life.”
Shakib is among the 113 cricketers who will undergo a fitness test on November 9 and 10 ahead of the forthcoming Bangabandhu T20 tournament.
Asked if his teammates will doubt him, Shakib replied: “It’s a difficult question because I am not sure what is going through anyone’s mind. They can doubt me or have no trust in me and I don’t disapprove it totally.
“But as I have spoken with almost everyone I did not feel it that way. I think they will believe me like the way they used to do but as you said anyone can have doubt over me at some corner of his mind because it is such a thing.”
Talking about his comeback, the 33-year-old said he is determined to “reach where I have left”.
“I want to repay you back for all the support. The fans were behind me more than my expectations. Whenever I will play, the only thing that will come to my mind is how I can repay them back,” he said.
In last year’s World Cup at England, Shakib became the first player to score 500 runs and claim 10-plus wickets in a single edition of the quadrennial event.
He confessed that it was “really challenging” to perform in the World Cup as he was under the ICC scanner.
“Certainly it was not a nice feeling to go to bed with. I was assuming that something might happen and there were times when I felt nothing might happen…,” Shakib recounted.
“(However) that investigation had nothing to do with my performance in the World Cup as the investigation started in November/December so I could have been banned before the World Cup. I had a desire to do well in the World Cup as I could not perform according to my reputation on the world stage,” he concluded.
