Dancing down the rough patch

Shakib Al Hasan, undoubtedly the brightest star of Bangladesh cricket, does not always necessarily need to be involved in a cricketing activity to hog the spotlight. The premier all-rounder almost always seems to find his way into buzzing topics.

Latest incident was his appearance in public gathering during the launching ceremony of a certain super shop, less than 12 hours after his arrival from USA and thus his return was not only a reason for celebration but on the flip side, caused a Covid-19 related controversy.

While often it is his blistering centuries, or a magnificent five-wicket haul or an incredible effort while fielding that catches everyone’s eyes, it is also not rare to see him create headlines for off-the-field misdemeanors.

Be it a history of lashing out against fans in several occasions- most notably when he was handed a six-month ban by the Bangladesh Cricket Board for going into the crowd and physically assaulting a spectator in 2014, not  showing up for unveiling Bangladesh’s World Cup jersey, leading a central role in players’ movement, one-year ban from International Cricket Council (ICC) for failing to report corrupt approaches from an alleged bookmaker to the ICC’s anti-corruption unit, controversy over his self-isolation in March this year, workers unrest at his aquaculture farm in Satkhira, Shakib has often grabbed attention for his off-the-field activities.

However, he also appeared into the limelight for an off-the-field involvement earlier during the pandemic through his The Shakib Al Hasan Foundation, which took the noble initiative   of aiming to provide needy families with groceries supply and carried out community based services like disinfecting public places.