Staff Correspondent | New Age Jun 24,2020
Shakib Al Hasan
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan on Wednesday discussed the realisations he has made while serving a one-year ban from cricket and said that he wanted to play for his supporters once his ban was over.
‘Previously I was playing for the country, myself, for my family. But now the only thing I think is what I can do to give them back to the people who have been supporting me last 12-15 years,’ Shakib said in an online interview with Cricbuzz.
‘They were disappointed with my actions. How can I repay them and give back to them with something more, that’s the mentality I have now,’ he added.
In October last year, Shakib was banned from competitive cricket for one year by the International Cricket Council for not disclosing multiple spot fixing approaches.
Shakib, who is currently now in USA with his family, said that his casual approach to the corrupt approaches led to his forced sabbatical from cricket.
‘I thought I took it too casually… When I met the anti-corruption guy, I told them and they knew everything. I gave them all the evidence, they knew in and out of what exactly happened. To be honest that’s the only reason I have been banned for a year, otherwise I would have been banned for five-ten years,’ said the all-rounder.
‘That was a silly mistake I made… I regret that and I think no one should take those messages lightly.’
The 33-year old also reminisced how he, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim entered the international scene together and said that the trio still had a few years of international cricket left in them before they call it quits.
‘I think the best time will be when we three retire together; sit back, relax and talk about what we have done,’ Shakib said.
‘I think we have been playing together from Under-15. Since then till now we are together and hopefully we will be so for a few more years. And then we can sit back and talk about what we have done for Bangladesh cricket.
‘But for now I think we can look forward and think about 2023 World Cup which will be very important for Bangladesh cricket and for us. So time for us to look forward, at least for now and after few years we can look back and think what we have done.’
