Do we like Shakib Al Hasan?
Our score: 5 out of 10. Nothing harmful in his own words turned up, but an admitted anti-corruption breach, open cases and a political tangle leave him in the middle.
Shakib is Bangladesh's star all-rounder from Magura. He retired from international cricket in 2024, and in January that year he was elected to parliament as an Awami League candidate. The vote was boycotted by Sheikh Hasina's opponents and criticised by observers as unfree and unfair. He said he stood to help develop his hometown.
The old stain is on the cricket side. In 2019 the ICC banned him for two years, one suspended, after he admitted three charges of failing to report approaches to engage in corrupt conduct. He accepted it rather than fight a tribunal, saying “I didn't do my duty in this instance.” That's an admitted lapse, not a fixing finding.
The big shadow is politics. After Hasina's government fell in 2024, Shakib was named among dozens facing murder investigations over the deadly crackdown on protesters, and he has stayed out of Bangladesh since. He says “I know I haven't done anything.” He also apologised for his silence during the student-led uprising, while defending his decision to serve in parliament.
On the harm test, our searches found no words from him against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or climate action, so the record is thin rather than clean. The contested bit is the company: he sat in a government accused of a deadly crackdown, then joined a Hasina media event by phone. That's an asterisk, not a fail.
The August 2026 fallout was fast. Attackers smashed windows and, per Reuters, threw petrol bombs at his ancestral home, which was empty. Bangladesh's sports minister said that “someone who has taken the stage with the autocrat” has no way back. Shakib says he'll return and stand trial if his safety is guaranteed and hopes for the 2027 World Cup.
There's also a bank case. IFIC Bank accused Shakib and others of two dishonoured cheques worth about Tk 4 crore tied to his agro farm company. A Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant in January 2025 and ordered his assets seized in March 2025. We found no later outcome, so treat it as unresolved.