'People are bound to make mistakes' - Shakib Al Hasan on being banned by the ICC
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has acknowledged that he committed a mistake by failing to report bookie approaches. He added that everyone makes mistakes in life and the important thing is to learn from those blunders.
Shakib Al Hasan spoke openly about the mistakes he has committed as a cricketer in a conversation with Deep Dasgupta on the ESPNcricinfo show Cricketbaazi.
Deep Dasgupta mentioned that Shakib Al Hasan's career was like a railway track, with his glorious performances on the cricket field on one side and the off-field controversies on the other.
On being asked if he was prone to chasing controversies or if he was chased by them, Shakib Al Hasan responded that it was a mixture of both while adding that he probably got responsibilities too early in his career when he was not mature enough.
"I think combination of both. Sometimes they come towards me and I also go towards them at times. Because I got the responsibility so early in my career, I was bound to make mistakes. I got the captaincy when I was 21, so I made lot of mistakes."
The left-arm spinner opined that there were times when he committed mistakes, while at other times he was misinterpreted.
"There are so many things that people beware and think about myself. But now when I look back, I realise that there were some areas that were my fault and some areas where I was misunderstood."
Shakib Al Hasan hoped that he would not be committing so many mistakes going forward, while mentioning that controversies were an integral part of life, especially in the Indian subcontinent.
"I understand that completely and this is part and parcel of our life, especially in the subcontinent. I am happy to lead my life like this, of course I will try to minimise as much as I can my mistakes."
Shakib Al Hasan added that having got married now with a couple of kids, he has become wiser and understood life better. He said that a settled life has made him calmer and that he hopes he would not make so many mistakes going forward.
Shakib Al Hasan on the lessons learnt from his mistakes
Deep Dasgupta mentioned that the respect for Shakib Al Hasan has grown since he admitted his mistake of not disclosing bookies' approach to the ICC, and that he has been a true role model by showing the path to the younger generation.
Shakib Al Hasan responded that one had to be truthful to the fans, while mentioning that no human being is perfect and everyone is bound to make mistakes.
"You have to be honest. You just cannot lie to the people and pretend different thing. Whatever happened, has happened. People are bound to make mistakes. Even in their seventies, they make mistake. You are not 100%."
Shakib Al Hasan highlighted that the critical thing is how you bounce back from your mistakes and act as a guiding force to other people so that they don't take a similar path.
"The important thing is how well you can come back from those mistakes and tell other people not to make those mistakes. You need to tell them the path you went through, so that they never go through that path. That will help them a lot."
He added that someone else could have made the same mistake and he could have learnt from it.
"It could have happened to someone else and I could have learnt from that. It happened to me and other people can learn from that."
Shakib Al Hasan revealed that he was always truthful while being interrogated while iterating that everyone is bound to make the wrong call.
"I wanted to be honest from the first step. I never hid anything even from the guys who were asking me questions. I will say straightforward thing, I made mistake, it shouldn't happen for a player like me but we all make mistakes."
Shakib Al Hasan signed off by apologizing for his misdemeanour and hoping that no other cricketer makes a similar mistake.
"I apologize for that, I want to move forward and want everyone to learn from this and never make those mistakes that I made."
Shakib Al Hasan had an outstanding 2019 World Cup. He finished the tournament as the third-highest run-scorer with 606 runs, only behind Rohit Sharma and David Warner. Apart from these runs, he also bagged 11 wickets to emerge as one of the stars of the tournament.
But only a few months later he was banned by the ICC for two years, with one year of that suspended, for having breached the ICC Anti-Corruption Code by not reporting bookie approaches.