Overview

• Youth and sports adviser Asif Mahmud told Channel 24 he will instruct the Bangladesh Cricket Board not to select Shakib Al Hasan in future.
• Mahmud framed the move as necessary because of Shakib’s Awami League involvement, with his statement following the player’s Instagram birthday wish to Sheikh Hasina.
• Shakib countered that the greeting was rooted in a long-standing cricket relationship, said it carried no political motive, and posted that he may return to his homeland one day.
• There is no public record in the coverage of a formal BCB ban, but Shakib has not played for Bangladesh since October 2024 and was left out of the Champions Trophy after failing a bowling-action reassessment.
• The Anti-Corruption Commission has opened an inquiry into alleged irregularities linked to Shakib, as Bangladesh’s national sides move forward under Litton Das in T20Is and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in ODIs and Tests.