The Bangladesh Cricket Board has come across the news that world-famous cricketer Shakib Al Hasan has been involved in a murder case of garment factory worker Rubel. His father, Rafiqul Islam, filed the case on 22 August. This created further hullabaloo over his place in the national team.
Asked if action will be taken against Shakib, BCB president Faruque Ahmed said that a decision will be taken after the ongoing match between Bangladesh and Pakistan ends. Despite having serious allegations against him, the player is playing in the match as the BCB has not yet received an official legal notice.
In that regard, Advocate Shajib Mahmood Alam issued a legal notice to BCB for Advocate Md. Rafinur Rahman. The said Notice pleads that Shakib be removed from all modes of cricket as per the ICC laws and further that Shakib should be called back to Bangladesh to support the investigation.
Ahmed said,
“Let me say about Shakib. A case has been lodged. We are yet to get any legal notice. FIR (first information letter) was given in the case and later there will be an investigation and following that, the case will move in one direction or the other,” Faruque told reporters following the meeting.
“Look, now we are playing aTest match and it is very good news that we have played well on the fourth day. Tomorrow is the fifth day, the deciding day of the Test and I think at this point, we haven’t thought about taking a stance. After tomorrow, once the game is over, we will sit and take a decision. By this time, we will also be able to say something about the legal notice as we will have received it by that time,” he said.
“Look, the FIR is just the first information letter and they are yet to claim any charge as far as I know, so before that, it is difficult to take a decision. The relationship between BCB and Shakib Al Hasan is like a player and an employer according to the contract. After tomorrow, we can think exactly about getting the legal notice and based on that. I cannot withdraw him from the middle of the Test match,” he said.
“The second Test match is from August 30, so there is a gap between the games. During this period, we can think about what can be done in this regard,” he added.
Now, BCB now pays attention to the Test series that is going on. It will reconsider the future of Shakib before the second Test against Pakistan on August 30. According to Ahmed, a relationship between BCB and Shakib is like a contract. It is just like between an employer and an employee. Whatever they do, it will follow the law and their agreement.
Meanwhile, BCB is ensuring that all is well set to go for the Test series against South Africa this month, with political unrest in Bangladesh, which was also the reason that the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup was moved to UAE. Nevertheless, the BCB seems confident that this series will not take off the chart.
“We are communicating with Cricket South Africa as we have some time. To host a tournament, there are a lot of things involved like logistics and security but I don’t think there will be any problem playing a bilateral series. South Africa doesn’t have any travel ban and the next series is against them. So, I am seeing no problem about it,” he said.
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