'Do we work on this or wait till IPL?' ICC releases full WhatsApp conversation between Shakib and bookie

After confirming that Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has been banned from all forms of cricket for two years with one year of that suspended, ICC has proceeded to release the details of the conversation between the all-rounder and an alleged bookie named Deepak Aggarwal. Shakib received a ban after he accepted to have breached three International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption code.

ICC released a detailed update and while, one cannot be extremely sure as to why Shakib did not inform the ACU about the exchanges, we do have information about what could have transpired between the cricketer and the bookie in a number of WhatsApp exchanges.

November 2017

The all-rounder was approached for the first time when he played for the Dhaka Dynamites team, in the Bangladesh Premier League which took place between 4 November and 12 December 2017. "He was aware that his telephone number had been provided to Aggarwal by another person who was known to Shakib. Aggarwal had asked this other person to provide him with contacts for players playing in the Bangladesh Premier League," said ICC in the release.

This did not end there as he exchanged a number of messages with him in mid-November 2017, And then, Aggarwal expressed his desire to meet the cricketer. 

January 2018

Shakib and Aggarwal exchanged messages even when he was part of the Bangladesh team participating in a TriSeries between Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. 

The IPL angle and the WhatsApp messages

The conversation carried on and on 19 January 2018, Shakib received a WhatsApp message from Aggarwal congratulating him for being named man of the match in that day's game. Aggarwal then wrote: "do we work in this or I wait till the IPL".

As per the ICC, the reference to "work" in this message was a reference to him providing Inside Information to Mr Aggarwal. He did not report this contact from Aggarwal to the ACU or any other anti-corruption authority.

On 23 January 2018, Shakib received another WhatsApp message from Aggarwal in which Aggarwal made another approach to him to give him Inside Information, saying "Bro anything in this series?" Shakib confirmed that this message related to Mr Aggarwal's request to him to provide Mr Aggarwal with Inside Information in relation to the ongoing Tri-Series.

April 2018

On 26th April Shakib was playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kings XI Punjab. He received another WhatsApp message from Aggarwal in which he asked him whether a particular player was going to be playing in the game that day, which was another way of seeking inside information.

The ICC further stated that Shakib confirmed of not leaking any inside information to the bookie.

"Shakib told the ACU that he did not accept or act upon any of the approaches he received from Mr Aggarwal, in particular, he did not provide him with any of the information requested, nor did he accept or receive any money or other reward from Mr Aggarwal. However, he did not at any time report any of the approaches to the ACU or any other relevant authority," ICC said.