cricket

Updated: Nov 03, 2019 16:46 IST

Former Indian cricket team opener Gautam Gambhir believes that Bangladesh will miss the services of Shakib Al Hasan in the ongoing T20I series against India and he said that ‘Bangladesh are already a wicket down’ after the former skipper was banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“One way or other, Bangladesh are already a wicket down and India are 40 without loss as that is what Shakib is worth. He was my KKR team-mate and I know what he can do on his day. Before this news came in I was quite certain that this will be a much closer series than the last one against South Africa was. Cricket is a funny game and this incident could end up galvanising the visiting team. Let us seem,” Gambhir wrote in his Times Of India column.

Bangladesh suffered a big blow on the eve of their departure to India when ICC handed a two-year ban on their Test and T20I captain Shakib for failing to report three suspect approaches.

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Without Shakib, the world no 1 ODI all-rounder, and senior batsman Tamim Iqbal, who had skipped the tour for personal reasons, Bangladesh will lack the experience of as many as 151 T20Is when they begin the three-match series in Delhi on Sunday.

“Those who have supported me over the years, I hope they, the fans, Bangladesh Cricket Board, the government, the journalists will continue to support me in my bad and good time,” Shakib told reporters after the ban was announced.

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“I am hopeful I will come back to cricket soon. I will be stronger and will perform my responsibilities with more sincerity,” he said.

Shakib, who has played 56 Tests, 206 ODIs and 76 Twenty20 internationals, is Bangladesh’s biggest sporting hero and has regularly topped the ICC rankings for all-rounders since 2009.

At this year’s World Cup in England, Shakib scored more than 600 runs and picked up 11 wickets. He also became the fastest cricketer to reach 5,000 runs and 250 wickets in one-day internationals.

(With agency inputs)