Bet You Didn’t Know Shakib Al Hasan Could Play Football Too

Unless you have been living under a rock recently you will know that Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan has been banned from all forms of cricket until late next year. However, instead of sitting around and just waiting for his ban to pass, it looks like he will spend his exile from cricket on a football field instead.

Al Hasan Has Always Had a Love for Football

When he was growing up Al Hasan wanted to be a footballer because his father used to play football for the district team, while his cousin played for the Bangladesh national team. Whenever he could, his father would take his young son to the local football field so that he could kick a ball around. This is what gave him his love for football. In fact, a few years ago during an interview with Harsha Bhogle he said that he actually prefers football to cricket.

A talent that would one day see him become the world’s best all-rounder in all formats of the game. He has now scored more than 11,000 runs for his country and picked up more than 550 wickets.

He Will Now Have Plenty of Time to Play Football

Al Hassan was recently banned from cricket for two years (1 year suspended) for failing to report to the authorities that he had been approached by an illegal bookmaker on three separate occasions. While he didn’t actually fix any matches that he played in, it is an offence to not report any approaches from bookmakers.

He can return to playing cricket at the end of October in 2020, which means that he will now miss next season’s Indian Premier League and most of the T20 World Cup that is due to be played in India. His ban will come to an end when the tournament is still being played, but they will not be allowed to just draft him into the team.

Therefore, to keep himself fit, he can spend the next twelve months or so playing football.

He Has Already Found a Football Team to Play For

Al Hasan has got himself a spot on the Footy Hags football team. He recently played for them in a match versus the Korean Expat team, helping them to a 3-2 win. He allegedly played on the right-wing and gave a very good account of himself.

His teammates were more than happy with his performance and are already looking forward to lining up alongside him in their next match. Due to his ban, it looks like they will have his services for a season at least.