Image Credit- Getty
One County Championship match for Surrey is scheduled for Shakib Al Hasan before Bangladesh’s visit of India the following month. He reportedly received a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for the game against Somerset in Taunton, which is scheduled to begin on September 9. Since that round falls between the end of the current Sri Lanka Test series and the beginning of the Australia white-ball series, Surrey will be without all of its England players.
Shakib is scheduled to travel from London to Chennai, where Bangladesh will play their first Test match against India on September 19. Before their home series against South Africa in October, Bangladesh will play three Twenty20 internationals and two Tests against India. Shakib is participating in the Pakistani Test series right now.
Shakib, a former member of parliament in the previous government of Bangladesh, is one of 147 individuals with accusations pending against them in relation to an alleged murder that occurred during early August protests in Bangladesh. Shakib was playing in the Global T20 Canada at the time, therefore he was out of the country.
The BCB had said that Shakib can continue playing for Bangladesh since the investigation is in its nascent stages. “It’s an FIR (first information report), there are a lot of legal procedures left to prove someone guilty following the filing of FIR,” new BCB chief Faruque Ahmed told the Dhaka-based the Daily Star on Tuesday. “At this moment there is no bar on Shakib to continue playing. We have responded to the legal notice served to us and we have said the same thing (no bar on Shakib playing in the UK) there too.”
Even if Shakib is given a UK visa, the ECB retains the ability to refuse his registration to play in their domestic system.
Asif Nazrul, Bangladesh’s adviser on law, justice, and parliamentary affairs, stated on Wednesday that it was improbable that Shakib would be taken into custody.
“This is a matter for the police administration,” Nazrul told reporters in Dhaka. “We have tried to say as much as we can. Filing a case does not mean an arrest. I believe our Ministry of Home Affairs will take steps to ensure that no one becomes overly enthusiastic about making an arrest. I hope Shakib will not be arrested. As far as I know, our police force has been given certain instructions.”