DHAKA: Bangladesh cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is the leading all-rounder of his era, whose laundry list of achievements is rivalled only by his disciplinary infractions and his brief political career under his country’s loathed ex-leader.
Shakib has been the driving force of his team’s rise to become serious international contenders, enthralling fans through both star turns and scandals. He remains the only player to have topped the International Cricket Council all-rounder rankings in all three formats simultaneously
Now 37, Shakib is still performing — he took three second-innings wickets as Bangladesh beat Pakistan for the first time in Tests on Sunday. Selectors have tolerated his transgressions and occasional defiance as the price of sporting glories that in 2022 saw him named his country’s greatest athlete by eminent Bangladeshi sports journalists.
"Cricket in Bangladesh is divided into two eras: Before and after Shakib Al Hasan,” veteran sports reporter Montu Kayser told AFP last year.
Of the many controversies in Shakib’s career, none have dogged him like his decision to contest sham elections in January under autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina. A student-led uprising ousted Hasina this month, with the leader fleeing the country for neighboring India.
The cricketer was in Canada playing in a T20 league as he lost his lawmaker job during the revolution. He has not returned home since. Along with dozens more members of Hasina’s Awami League, a murder case has been filed against Shakib that accuses him of culpability in the police killing of protesters. Shakib has not spoken publicly about the case, but his teammates have rallied around him. "As a teammate and a brother, I will be there during his tough times,” veteran batsman Mushfiqur Rahim said on Facebook this week. "I do not support the false allegations made against him.” — AFP