'He's very lucky' - Harsha Bhogle tweets on Shakib Al Hasan's suspended sentence

Bangladesh ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been handed a long ban of two years for breaching the ICC code of conduct. He accepted the charges of not reporting the illegal approaches of bookies on three occasions in recent years. After the news was released for imposing a ban on the 32-year-old cricketer, the Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle came out on social media with an awareness tweet for young cricketers.

Shakib is one of the best all-rounders at the moment. He’s ranked No. 1 in ICC ODI all-rounders rankings. He was slammed with a backdated ban and will be free to resume his international cricket from 29th October 2020.

Harsha Bhogle is surprised over Bangladesh all-rounder’s ignorance

Indian cricket analyst and commentator, Harsha Bhogle feels that in today’s world no cricketer should ignore the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code. And cricketers of every age group should report such approaches in front of the apex council. But, it is surprising that Shakib ignored three of them, and wrote, “No player today, let alone as high profile a cricketer as Shakib, can afford to be ignorant of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code. Even young players in age-group cricket are advised to report approaches. To let three such approaches go by is very strange”

Here are the tweets

The news of Shakib being banned for two years for failing to report "approaches to indulge in corrupt practices" is huge and terrible for the game in Bangladesh. Shakib is thier highest earning cricketer and was in the best position to set an example by reporting an offer

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 29, 2019

It tells you of the dangers before our game and how vulnerable lesser-earning cricketers are. With the earlier troubles in Sri Lanka the need to be vigilant and the need to educate has never been greater.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 29, 2019

No player today, let alone as high profile a cricketer as Shakib, can afford to be ignorant of the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code. Even young players in age-group cricket are advised to report approaches. To let three such approaches go by is very strange https://t.co/KgtYBWOj13

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 29, 2019

A lot of people on my timeline are saying that the verdict against Shakib is too harsh. On the contrary, he is very lucky to get a suspended sentence which means he can be back in a year.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 29, 2019

After getting banned, 32-year-old said that it was his duty to tell the apex body about such illegal approaches, but he failed in it, “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. 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,” Shakib said as quoted by News18.

The main reason for his suspension is his failure to disclose it to the ACU about the full details of any approaches or invitations he received to engage in Corrupt Conduct.

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