Australia’s chances of ending their eight-year Test series drought in Asia have skyrocketed due to the long ban handed to superstar Shakib Al Hasan, who will miss the upcoming two-Test series in Bangladesh.
Shakib, who was dominant as Australia drew 1-1 in Bangladesh two years ago, has received a two-year ban from the ICC after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.
This ban, one year of which was suspended, was due to Shakib “failing to report corrupt approaches” to the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit. The Bangladesh all-rounder did not notify the ICC he had repeatedly been approached by a bookie who was seeking to get “inside information for betting purposes”.
This scandal is just the latest evidence of the deep ties and insidious influence that corrupt bookies have in cricket. It is a stain on the legacy of one of the greatest cricketers of the modern era and a thudding blow to Bangladesh cricket, which has taken enormous strides over the past decade.
Arguably the world’s best all-rounder, Shakib is the central pillar of the Bangladesh side in all three formats.
At 32 years old he is in his prime and is fresh from an astonishing 2019 World Cup campaign, during which he piled up 606 runs at 86, to go with 11 wickets.
He had been looming like a goliath over Australia’s Test series in Bangladesh in June. When Australia last toured there in August 2017 Shakib was phenomenal.
His accurate left arm spin was a constant threat to the Aussies as he took 12 wickets at 22. With the bat he won Bangladesh the first Test – a thriller with a margin of just 20 runs – after coming to the crease at 3-10 on day one and gliding to 84.
Looking ahead to Australia’s tour, Shakib will leave a monumental hole in the Bangladesh side. He is both their best bowler and their supreme batsman. Since the start of 2015 in Tests he has averaged 42 with the bat and 30 with the ball.
Shakib has been particularly commanding against non-Asian sides in that time, averaging 42 with the bat and 24 with the ball.
His bowling shaped as a major challenge for Australian champion Steve Smith, who is troubled by left arm spin more than any other style.
Last time around in Bangladesh, Smith had a quiet series with 119 runs at 29.
Yet Australia were the better side across that series, winning the second Test easily after narrowly losing the first Test.
Shakib Al Hasan at the World Cup. (Photo by Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
With Shakib absent, Australia could well start the upcoming series as favourites. After being easybeats on the subcontinent for years, Australia have greatly improved their performances in Asia of late.
They pushed India to the final day of the four-Test series in early 2017, then drew 1-1 in Bangladesh, and managed one rousing draw in the UAE against Pakistan last year despite being without stars Smith, David Warner, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Regardless of all that progress, Australia still haven’t won a Test series in Asia for a long, long time.
Their most recent series triumph on the subcontinent was in 2011 when they won 1-0 in Sri Lanka. That was followed by a horror sequence in which Australia lost 4-0 in India in 2013, 2-0 in Pakistan in 2014 and 3-0 in Sri Lanka in 2016.
The cumulative impact of those three embarrassing performances saw Australia put far greater effort into their next series in Asia.
Prior to the 2017 Tests in India, Australia held an intensive training camp at home on pitches specially prepared to behave like turning Asian surfaces, and then did a second camp at ICC headquarters in Dubai.
This improved preparation saw them perform admirably across their 2017 series in India and Bangladesh. Now, however, with Bangladesh missing Shakib, Australia will have no excuses for not ending their drought in Asia.
Not only could a series win in Bangladesh break this hoodoo, but it would be a huge boost for Australia in the new World Test Championships.
Australia must ruthlessly take advantage of the absence of Shakib, in the same way that India steamrolled them last summer as they were without stars Smith and Warner.
DTM
Guest
Yes, an AFL player Stephenson from Collingwood) received a ban - I think it was 10 or 12 weeks, for a small bet. There was no suggestion of match fixing nor was there in the Lillee Marsh case.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Yeah, it was a dumb decision to make, but it was a different era, match-fixing wasn't really a thing, not that anyone knew about anyway, and players weren't very clearly made aware of what is and isn't okay like they are these days. They could make a stupid bet like that without any thought of actually trying to throw the match even crossing their minds, but these days, there is absolutely no excuse for any such stupidity. Everything is made excruciatingly clear.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Good comment Jero. Though Shakib most certainly does not fall into the category of not being well remunerated (primarily through endorsements, but nonetheless intricately linked to his cricketing talent).
Tanmoy Kar
Roar Rookie
Afghanistan beat Bangladesh few months back at Chattogram comprehensively in the presence of Shakib-al-Hasan as Captain. Hence beating Bangladesh at their Home will not be difficult for Australia in the presence or absence of Shakib.
Jero
Roar Rookie
I watched all of it as a 13 year old kid, and listed to it on the radio when sent to bed. Yep, it was Headingley '81. We were 1 nil up after the first two Tests, had enforced the follow on and Botham had been so bereft of form that after a 3 ball duck in the 1st innings of the preceding Test at Lords and a golden duck in the second he was stripped of the captaincy. In no sane reading of the game of cricket let alone the world were England in it, nor was Botham the man to turn it around. From what I've read Marsh say about it, the odds were so ridiculously in Australia's favour that whoever made them didn't factor in that in any two horse race there's always an outside chance of the seemingly impossible happening. If it hadn't been for the odds they wouldn't have placed the bets is the upshot. So although they didn't honestly think England could win, and there's no suggestion that their own under-performances had anything to do with the loss when Willis ran through the whole team in the final innings, they did actually have an eye to profit from it if the impossible happened. So it was a kinda piss-take, and kinda wanting to make a profit on the piss-take odds if the impossible came off. It was innocent enough because they never tried to lose, but their motivations weren't entirely innocent, it seems.
Josh H
Roar Rookie
Am I right in saying it was Botham's '81 Headingley Test? My read on it was that it was a bit of a piss-take, they kinda expected to throw away $10 just for kicks and giggles, but obviously the impossible happened and they profited from it - whoops
Jero
Roar Rookie
Yeah, they made a killing, given the odds. Just a good thing they didn't put anything more on than beer money, otherwise it would have been more than just a bad look and genuinely sus. It could be characterized as naive at best and a bad look at worse in 1981, given that match-fixing wasn't on anyone's radar. It was easy to see it as a bit of an ill-advised Aussie larrikin lark, like having too many beers and a few smokes at the end of the day's play with the opponent. Nowadays they'd be in serious trouble, as Chris says.
Lewis Atkins
Roar Rookie
Mark Waugh and Shane Warne actually accepted money for pitch and weather information. Their punishment was to pay the money back and are now considered greats of the game. Have never seen anyone question either of them about it in a recent interview, or Warne’s use of prescribed substances. I’m very disappointed and al Hasan obviously did the wrong thing, but he didn’t accept any money and immediately accepted his punishment and has been contrite. Unlike the former two, who enjoy jobs on selection panels and in the commentary box
Josh H
Roar Rookie
I was referring to the odds, didn't make that clear ahaha
Jero
Roar Rookie
Apparently that exorbitant amount of money was ten quid.
Josh H
Roar Rookie
One such case you speak of, Chris, is the Lillee-Marsh bet in one of the Ashes tests. They bet some exorbitant amount of money on Australia losing an unlosable Test match but got off scot-free because they didn't appear to be putting in any less effort than usual
AREH
Roar Guru
I think he may have been named? Cannot recall for sure. I think the question that leaves fans scratching their heads the most is simply why didn't he report it? There is probably a lot more to this that will play out in time
Paul
Roar Guru
You're spot on and that's part of what stinks to me Jeff. I wonder if he's "taken one for the boys", where he wore the blame for a more widespread approach to players? I'm only wondering without any fact but it does seem strange he's the one picked out.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Has anybody really been following the World Test Championship properly yet? It's gone straight under my radar. And the points system is slightly ridiculous so India are now suddenly top of the league! (yes, they did whitewash South Africa 3-0 but hopefully you get my point that the whole system's a little confusing. Well, in my opinion anyway...) England's next test series against NZ isn't even part of the WTC! But I love test cricket so I'll watch it anyway...
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Still, I imagine we might play without Shaun Marsh. NCN and The Dorff will also be unavailable but we, as you can see, will be decimated.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Interestingly, they reported it.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Rescheduling during monsoon season? hmm....
Jeff
Roar Rookie
"This is a worlds best all rounder" And captain as well. Turning a blind eye as captain to roughing up the ball got Steve Smith 12 months (albeit a CA penalty, but ICC has since fallen into line). Turning a blind eye to match fixing should therefore be a ban of....?
Jeff
Roar Rookie
The bizarre thing to me Paul, is why did the bookie approach Shakib in the first place? This guy earns USD4-5m a year and is worth $40m+ (think about that in the context of Bangladeshi income). The proposed payment would surely have had to be HUGE in the first place to even tempt him, so why would the bookies only approach Shakib because surely he's the least likely successful candidate for them? And if they have that much money to splash around, would they have just given up on Shakib's rejection and not targeted other, much-lesser paid, players?
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Key word: "may". He was there for a while, admin changes. Who knows. I'm only throwing up the possibility. ---- It's hard to be dogmatic