Shakib to miss eight series along with World T20 first round and Asia Cup
Shakib being suspended for a year means he will not only miss the upcoming tour of India but also seven other series’.
Bangladesh T20 and Test captain Shakib Al Hasan has been banned for two years, with one year suspended, from any kind of cricketing activities by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
This means that Shakib will not be able to take part in any cricketing activity until October 29, 2020. In this time period, Shakib will miss many of Bangladesh series' along with the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup scheduled next year.
Shakib has been banned for breaching the article 2.4.4 the ICC Anti-Corruption Code thrice, with the incidents happening during the tri-series at home in January 2018 and 2018 IPL.
Shakib was contacted by a bookie named Aggarwal, who wanted to work with him in the tournaments mentioned above. Shakib refused to do any sort of fixing in the match, but he also did not report the incident regarding Aggarwal offering him to do so to the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of ICC.
Thus he has been banned for two years, of which twelve months are suspended. This means that Shakib will be able to return to the field on the 29th of October next year.
Shakib being suspended for a year means he will not only miss the upcoming tour of India but also seven other series'.
Bangladesh's schedule until October 2019 is packed, starting with a tour to India in November 2019.
Bangladesh have a scheduled tour against Pakistan in early 2020, before an Australia series at home in February.
Then they have a Zimbabwe series at home in March 2020 and then Bangladesh are supposed to tour Ireland in May-June next year, before touring to Sri Lanka in July-August.
Bangladesh then have a home series against New Zealand in August-September, before a return tour to the Oceanian country in October.
Along with all these, Shakib will also miss the Asia Cup in September 2020 along with the T20 World Cup which is scheduled to start in mid-October. He might have a chance to play in the World T20, if anyone in the squad gets injured after the 29th of October next year and needs to be replaced. Shakib can then get into the squad then as a replacement.
Bangladesh will not only miss Shakib's prowess as an all-rounder but will also miss his captaincy. Especially, with the Test Championship on hand, Bangladesh would have looked to win as many matches to climb higher on the table. But without Shakib's performance, it might turn out to be tougher than expected.
Also, Bangladesh have recently adapted the tactics of using spin-friendly pitches at home to bamboozle teams from outside the subcontinent. But without Shakib, this plan might backfire with Shakib, Bangladesh's best spinner, being unavailable.
Also, Shakib's batting in the middle-order is vital for Bangladesh and with the team's batting being fragile, his unavailability will matter even more.
In such circumstances, Bangladesh will need to find someone who can at least fill some parts of the big hole Shakib will be unavailable for, for a year. If they cannot, difficult times are coming for the side.