Sports  Desk:

Shakib’s bowling action was reported by the on-field umpires during his stint with Surrey County Cricket Club in September last year.

The all-rounder had failed his first test at the Loughborough University in England and gave his second test in India’s Chennai on December 21, 2024. At midnight on Thursday, ECB sources confirmed to that Shakib ‘failed the test’ again.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was awaiting Shakib’s results to see if they could include the all-rounder in the squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy, beginning next month. The deadline for squad submission is on January 12.

“We don’t want to keep any suspense on the matter. The results were to come by January 5. Normally it takes 12 days but there was New Year and Christmas break so we are expecting anytime soon and the ECB will let us know,” Shahriar Nafees, in charge of BCB cricket operations, told on Wednesday.

However, the current development significantly hampers Shakib’s chances of getting into the Champions Trophy squad as he will have to play on as a batter unless he is able to clarify his bowling action through another test in the coming weeks.

Shakib will not be able to bowl in international cricket as per the regulations of the International Cricket Council (ICC), which also states that when a national federation [ECB in this instance] suspends a player from bowling in its domestic competitions, the suspension is automatically recognised and enforced by the ICC in international cricket and by all national cricket federations.

BCB sources confirmed that all bowling tests Shakib had gone through before or will go through in the future, those tests will have to be done in affiliation with ECB. Even if Shakib undergoes a test individually at an ICC-accredited centre again, it will have to be done in coordination with ECB.

Bangladesh will start the Champions Trophy campaign against India on February 20 in Dubai before they take on New Zealand and Pakistan in their next two Group A matches in Rawalpindi.