Former Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has opened up on his suspension for his illegal bowling action during his county stint with Surrey last year. The southpaw was reported for a suspect action in a four-day County Championship match against Somerset in Taunton, where he shouldered a heavy bowling workload following a demanding international run.
An independent assessment at Loughborough University later confirmed that his action was illegal, triggering an automatic suspension from all ECB-sanctioned competitions. As per ICC regulations, the ban was subsequently extended to international cricket as well.
Almost a year after the incident, Shakib made an honest admission about changing his bowling action. Speaking on the Beard Before Wicket
podcast, he revealed that excessive workload played a massive role in that episode.
“I think I was doing it a little bit intentionally because I bowled more than 70 overs in one match,” he said.
“I never bowled 70 overs in my career in a Test match. I had just played back-to-back Tests in Pakistan, then went straight into that four-day game. I was exhausted.”
Shakib had bowled 63.2 overs in his only match for Surrey, divided into 33.5 overs in the first innings and 29.3 in the second. He said he accepted the umpires’ decision to report his action, though he felt they could have given a warning.
“It is in the rules, so they had the right. I didn’t complain,” he said.
After failing his first test in the UK and another assessment in Chennai, Shakib worked with Surrey’s coaches to fix his action.
“I trained for a couple of weeks and went back to Surrey. They helped me a lot. After just two sessions, I was back to normal,” he said.
He was cleared to bowl earlier this year after passing a third assessment at Loughborough. But being out of action had its impact. The Bangladesh Cricket Board did not pick him for the Champions Trophy, even though they confirmed he was available to play as a specialist batter in all formats.
