LONDON: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has suspended Bangladesh’s all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan from bowling in its organised tournaments, international media reported on Friday.
According to the reports, Shakib underwent an independent testing of his bowling at Loughborough University earlier this month, which deemed his action illegal.
As a result, Shakib will now need to pass an independent reassessment of his action to overturn the suspension.
The suspension is officially effective from December 10, the day the ECB received the assessment results from Loughborough University.
Notably, Shakib’s bowling action was deemed suspected by on-field umpires, Steve O'Shaughnessy and David Millns, during his one-match County Championship stint for Surrey in September.
In his one-match stint, the left-arm spinner registered brilliant match figures of 9/193 but could not prevent Somerset from claiming a thumping 111-run victory.
Remember, this is the first instance that Shakib Al Hasan has come under scrutiny over his bowling action amid his international career, spanned two decades, featuring a total of 712 wickets across 447 matches.
The all-rounder’s international career for Bangladesh is currently in jeopardy after he withdrew from Bangladesh’s home Test series against South Africa on security grounds.
He was then left out of Bangladesh’s ODI squad for the three-match series against West Indies, which concluded yesterday.
Despite his ongoing struggles, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Faruque Ahmed said earlier this month, that the all-rounder is part of the team’s plans for the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025.
"It’s certainly a challenge for Shakib to play for Bangladesh while he is away from the country. For now, he remains part of our strategy for the Champions Trophy scheduled for February and March next year," said Ahmed.
Sohail Imran Sohail Imran is a senior reporter for Geo News.- Shakib Al Hasan
