'Bro anything in this series?': Shocking WhatsApp messages by bookie to Shakib Al Hasan

Dubai - The ICC has banned the Bangladeshi cricketer for two years.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday banned Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan from all forms of cricket for two years, with one year of that suspended, after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC anti-corruption code.

The ICC has revealed, in its decision published online, messages sent by a bookie to the cricketer.

"Al Hasan was interviewed by the ACU (anti-corruption unit) in Bangladesh on 23 January 2019 and 27 August 2019 in relation to an ongoing investigation into potential corrupt conduct under the code, including but not limited to the activities of an individual known to the ACU and suspected of involvement in corruption in cricket, Deepak Aggarwal," the ICC said.

In the course of his interviews with the ACU, Al Hasan confirmed the following:

> In November 2017, he was a member of the Dhaka Dynamites team, a team which participated in the Bangladesh Premier League, played between 4 November and 12 December 2017.

> He was aware that his telephone number had been provided to Mr Aggarwal by another person who was known to Mr Al Hasan. Mr Aggarwal had asked this other person to provide him with contacts for players playing in the Bangladesh Premier League.

> In mid-November 2017, at the instigation of Mr Aggarwal, he exchanged various WhatsApp messages with Mr Aggarwal in which Mr Aggarwal sought to meet him.

> In January 2018, he was selected as part of the Bangladesh team participating in a TriSeries between Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. During this series, he and Mr Aggarwal engaged in further WhatsApp conversations.

> On 19 January 2018, he received a WhatsApp message from Mr Aggarwal congratulating him for being named man of the match in that day's game. Mr Aggarwal followed this message with a message saying "do we work in this or I wait til the IPL".

> The reference to "work" in this message was a reference to him providing inside information to Mr Aggarwal.

> He did not report this contact from Mr Aggarwal to the ACU or any other anti-corruption authority.

> On 23 January 2018, he received another WhatsApp message from Mr Aggarwal in which Mr Aggarwal made another approach to him to provide him with inside information, saying "Bro anything in this series?"

> He confirmed that this message related to Mr Aggarwal's request to him to provide Mr Aggarwal with inside information in relation to the ongoing Tri-Series.

> He did not report this request for inside information from Mr Aggarwal to the ACU or any other anti-corruption authority.

> On 26 April 2018, he played for the Sunrisers Hyderabad team in its IPL match against Kings XI Punjab.

> He received a WhatsApp message from Mr Aggarwal that day asking him whether a particular player was going to be playing in the game that day, i.e. again asking for inside information.

> Mr Aggarwal continued this conversation with him by talking about bitcoins, dollar accounts and asked him for his dollar account details. During this conversation, he told Mr Aggarwal that he wanted to meet him "first".

> These messages on 26 April 2018 included a number of deleted messages. He confirmed that these deleted messages contained requests from Mr Aggarwal for inside information.

> He confirmed that he had concerns over Mr Aggarwal, feeling he was a bit "dodgy", and that, following their conversations, he had the feeling that Mr Aggarwal was a bookie.

> He did not report any of the contact and approaches received from Mr Aggarwal on 26 April 2018 to the ACU or any other anti-corruption authority.