Shakib a perennial headline-maker

Shakib Al Hasan's return to cricket after serving a year-long ban was expected to be the most discussed topic among fans and media. And so it proved from day one, when he was officially allowed to be reinstated in cricketing activities on the morning of October 29.

Shakib was greeted like the "champ" that he is by his teammates as they flooded social media with touching messages. A sense of festivity could be sensed, with Bangladesh fans, Shakib's national colleagues, former cricketers and media all rejoicing the moment they had been awaiting for a year.

A few days later, on November 4, Shakib retained his spot as the number one ODI all-rounder without even stepping onto the field. While his incredible all-round performances in a memorable 2019 ICC World Cup campaign contributed to his hold on the top spot, the coronavirus pandemic gave little room for challengers.

Even though his rating points dropped from 394 to 373, it could have been a sharper dip had cricket not been halted for the better part of the year. Shakib himself missed a total of only three ODIs in the past year. Similarly, Second-placed Mohammad Nabi (301 points) and the third-placed Chris Woakes (286 points) could have leapfrogged Shakib if they had the opportunity to play more matches in that period.

Regardless of how the situation helped Shakib stay on top, the news that circulated was that Shakib was back where he belonged -- that too without even getting onto the field.

On the night when the news of his retention of top ODI all-rounder spot broke out, Shakib would once again be on the news. This time it was when he sat down to take questions from fans and journalists around the globe and answered them on his YouTube channel.

Unsurprisingly, the media and fans leapt at the opportunity to reunite with the superstar, whom they had seldom seen in the past year and also had a lot of questions about his cricket-exile.

Shakib answered as many of those questions as he could during his just about over half-and-hour-long video where he admitted guilt, shared thoughts and helped cast some light on what this ban taught him. Chunks of all those answers were picked by the media and those made rounds in news portals for the next few days.

Then on November 6, the morning the premier all-rounder set foot in the capital after returning from the US for the first time since his ban ended, Shakib could not evade the media even after arriving in the early hours of the day. Or it could also be said that the media would not rest without getting the sight of the best cricketer the country has produced till date after his return.  

While Shakib grabbed headlines for positive reasons up until arriving in the country, his penchant for drawing controversies took no more than 12 hours after his arrival to kick in. Heeding little or no regard to the mandatory 14-day quarantine rule set by the government for inbound passengers, the 33-year-old was seen fulfilling one of his many commercial commitments as he attended a launching ceremony of a super shop in Gulshan on the morning of the very day he arrived. Fans thronged to watch the superstar from close quarters as social distancing remained least of their concerns.

While the media went berserk over Shakib's doings, the champion all-rounder remained calm and unfazed -- as he always remains after being involved in any controversial activity. Shakib took the coronavirus test the following day and returned a negative result and all of a sudden it did not matter anymore what he had done before. 

It probably would have been ideal for Shakib to keep most of his focus on the field, especially after returning from a ban imposed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) due to his failure in reporting corrupt approaches from an alleged bookie just a year ago. But rather it seemed as if Shakib arrived with a pre-existing well chalked out itinerary that mostly includes fulfilling commercial commitments off the field and the premier all-rounder has been keeping up to it to the letter -- even if it meant putting others in jeopardy. 

Shakib was supposed to take the beep test -- a prerequisite for taking part in the upcoming Bangabandhu T20 Cup -- two days after arriving in the country. The all-rounder had it pushed two more days for preparing better for the test -- understandable as he would be returning after a long cricketing exile.

Interestingly, even though he reportedly pushed his beep test for two days to help his body be better prepared for the test, he was busy fulfilling yet another commercial commitment -- this time for an e-commerce site Daraz -- at midnight the day before he took the beep test.

And even on the day he took the beep test, Shakib could not stay out of the spotlight. It was yet again for a negative reason but the only difference was that this time, it was not Shakib who was at fault.

In fact, it was a case of miscommunication on the part of BCB fitness trainer Tushar Kanti Howlader, who announced that Shakib had scored 'something above 13' points in the beep test. Soon, rumours were doing the rounds that Shakib, who returned to cricket after a year-long ban, had top-scored in the beep test with 13.7 points and that, understandably, created a massive hype among fans and media. But hours later, BCB clarified that the all-rounder scored just close to the benchmark score of 11.

While the beep test fiasco was not at all Shakib's fault, the latest controversy that he courted was surely one of his makings. The ace all-rounder, who travelled to Kolkata via Benapole checkpost yesterday after being included by The High Commission of India the day before as a part of their 'air bubble' arrangement with Bangladesh, threw away a fan's phone after he attempted to take a selfie.

Perhaps, it was mostly the organisers' responsibility to keep the 'air bubble' arrangement air-tight and totally secluded from fans, but should not it be as such that Shakib, a vastly experienced cricketer, take the responsibility of his own health safety and choose the one he is being involved with for commercial purposes more carefully?

While often it is Shakib's blistering centuries, or a magnificent five-wicket haul or an incredible effort while fielding that catches everyone's eyes, it is also not rare to see him create headlines for off-the-field offences -- as he did since arriving in the country except for the one occasion when his name was dragged in a piece of negative news with no fault of his own. 

And now, even the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has been reluctant and too embarrassed to make any comments on Shakib's questionable off-the-field activities. 

Shakib has courted many controversies even before. From having a history of lashing out against fans on several occasions- most notably when he was handed a six-month ban by the BCB for going into the crowd and physically assaulting a spectator in 2014, not showing up for unveiling Bangladesh's World Cup jersey, leading a central role in players' movement, the one-year ban by the ICC for failing to report corrupt approaches from an alleged bookmaker to the ICC's anti-corruption unit, the controversy over his self-isolation in March this year to workers unrest at his aquaculture farm in Satkhira, Shakib has often grabbed attention for his off-the-field activities even in the past.

But for his incredible cricketing ability, he almost always awes everyone with his top performances on the field into forgetting his off-the-field wrongdoings. And there is no hint of doubt that the all-rounder will once again start providing Bangladesh or whichever teams he plays for with jaw-dropping match-winning performances as it is what he usually does. But should that put all his major and minor offences under the rug?  

Maybe it is time for Shakib, undoubtedly the biggest ambassador of Bangladesh cricket and an idol in the eyes of many, to reform his approach even when he is off the field. The truth is Shakib will always grab headlines for the superstar that he is, but perhaps it is time that he starts acting in a way so that positive headlines about him outweigh the negative ones.