Bangladesh cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is the leading all-rounder of his era, whose laundry list of achievements is rivalled only by his disciplinary infractions and his brief political career under his country's loathed ex-leader.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Shakib has been the driving force of his team's rise to become serious international contenders, enthralling fans through both star turns and scandals.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He remains the only player to have topped the International Cricket Council all-rounder rankings in all three formats simultaneously<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Now 37, Shakib is still performing -- he took three second-innings wickets as Bangladesh beat Pakistan for the first time in Tests on Sunday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Selectors have tolerated his transgressions and occasional defiance as the price of sporting glories that in 2022 saw him named his country's greatest athlete by eminent Bangladeshi sports journalists.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Cricket in Bangladesh is divided into two eras: before and after Shakib Al Hasan," veteran sports reporter Montu Kayser told AFP last year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"It's like before and after Christ. He is the Jesus Christ of Bangladesh cricket."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Of the many controversies in Shakib's career, none have dogged him like his decision to contest sham elections in January under autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A student-led uprising ousted Hasina this month, with the leader fleeing the country for neighbouring India.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The cricketer was in Canada playing in a T20 league as he lost his lawmaker job during the revolution. He has not returned home since.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Along with dozens more members of Hasina's Awami League, a murder case has been filed against Shakib that accuses him of culpability in the police killing of protesters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Shakib has not spoken publicly about the case, but his teammates have rallied around him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"As a teammate and a brother, I will be there during his tough times," veteran batsman Mushfiqur Rahim said on Facebook this week.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I do not support the false allegations made against him."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
- Star emerges -<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n Shakib made his international debut aged just 19 in 2006, as a batting all-rounder against Zimbabwe.<\/p>\r\n\r\n He had already become a star by the time he hit a fifty against India in the following year's World Cup in a David-and-Goliath victory still spoken of reverentially by Bangladesh fans.<\/p>\r\n\r\n His remarkable 7-36 in a losing effort against New Zealand sealed his Test spot in 2008.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Two years later he led Bangladesh to their first ODI series win over a leading cricket nation, with a 4-0 home sweep of New Zealand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Shakib struggled under the pressure of the captaincy so early in his career, and was sacked after a disappointing tour of Zimbabwe in 2011.<\/p>\r\n\r\n By 2014, his relationship with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) reached its lowest ebb.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Shakib's ill discipline had seen him threaten a spectator with a bat. He then made a lewd gesture to a television crew and was banned by the BCB for three ODIs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n A running dispute with coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and a decision to compete in the Caribbean Premier League without BCB clearance led to a six-month suspension.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Shakib's sanction was lifted early after apologising and pledging to "behave in a more mature way".<\/p>\r\n\r\n "Nothing can be more painful than staying away from cricket," he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n - 'Many thorns' -<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n Shakib scored a century and took 10 wickets in his comeback Test against Zimbabwe, becoming only the third cricketer to achieve the all-round feat after Imran Khan and Ian Botham.<\/p>\r\n\r\n In 2017, he scored a century to bail out Bangladesh from a precarious 33-4 to a remarkable five-wicket win over New Zealand in Cardiff.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Shakib reached his pinnacle at the 2019 World Cup in England, where he made 606 runs and claimed 11 wickets, an all-rounder record for the tournament.<\/p>\r\n\r\n But he also continued to court controversy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n While Shakib was leading a players' strike for better pay in 2019, the ICC slapped him with a two-year ban for failing to report corrupt approaches by bookmakers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Soon after his return he was again named Test and Twenty20 skipper, but in 2022 the BCB forced him to abandon a partnership with an offshore betting site.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The following year he was a guest at the opening of a boutique jeweller in Dubai, despite Bangladeshi police informing him the store's proprietor was a fugitive accused of murder.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Kayser likened Shakib to a "king with many thorns in his crown".<\/p>\r\n\r\n