'Took Bookies' approach too casually': Shakib al Hasan says his ban could have been longer

A year after Bangladesh's premium all-rounder Shakib al Hasan was handed a two-year ban (reduced to one later) for not reporting an approach from a bookie, the ex-Tigers skipper said that he regretted his casual attitude towards reporting the corrupt approach for his ban. The former world number one all-rounder was handed the two-year ban by the ICC shortly after the World Cup last year for failing to report an approach from an Indian bookie during the Indian Premier League (IPL). Shakib al Hasan was in his prime form, with both bat & ball, before he was forced to sit out of the game following his suspension. 

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'Silly mistake'

Speaking to Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation', the former Bangladesh skipper revealed that he had taken the approach from the bookie too 'casually' and that he had been completely transparent with the anti-corruption in charge, pointing out that he would have been banned for ten years instead of one if he had not been so. Calling it a 'silly mistake', Shakib said that he should have been more careful considering his experience in international cricket and the awareness about ICC's Anti-Corruption Code. The premium all-rounder admitted that he had been a 'little too arrogant' by not reporting the approach immediately and that it never struck him that he had done anything wrong at that moment. 

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"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he said.

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Shakib's IPL XI

Shakib Al Hasan has picked Gautam Gambhir as the captain in his best IPL XI. Shakib has played under Gambhir's captaincy for Kolkata Knight Riders from 2011 to 2017 editions of the Indian Premier League. He was also a part of the KKR side when they had won two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 seasons respectively. Kolkata had beaten the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in 2012 and edged past the first-time finalists Kings XI Punjab during the final over of a high-intense run chase where southpaw Piyush Chawla had hit the winning runs. KKR had also finished as the runners-up in the now-defunct CLT20 in the year 2014. 

Shakib's XI: David Warner, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir (C), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Rusell, Sunil Narine, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Laxmipathy Balaji, Umesh Yadav

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