Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto applauded all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan for claiming three wickets in the second innings of a historic Test win over Pakistan in Rawalpindi. However, Shakib was named in a murder case filed on Thursday (August 22) by Rafiqul Islam, the father of garment factory worker Rubel who was killed on Aug 5 in Dhaka’s Adabor as well. Following the accusation, Shajib Mahmood Alam, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, sent a legal notice to the Bangladesh Cricket Board on Saturday through email and registered post on behalf of Advocate Md Rafinur Rahman, asking to remove Shakib from all ‘forms’ of cricket with immediate effect as well.

Meanwhile, BCB president Faruque Ahmed insisted that they will take a call on Shakib after the opening Test against Pakistan at Rawalpindi. However, the left-arm spinner picked the important wicket of Abdullah Shafique and first-innings centurion Saud Shakeel as well. He also dismissed Naseem Shah to complete his spell of 3 for 44 in 17 overs, where he bowled 16 overs on the trot on Day 5 as well.

“When he takes the field to represent the country, from what I understand, he is very dedicated as a person. He does everything that’s required to win. He pushes everything in his personal life to one side to think and focus on what he can do for the team, what he can do to help a junior cricketer and things like that. He can do these sorts of things in a unique way,” Najmul said. “To be in a situation like that (being accused in a murder case) and still be able to bring out a performance like that and to give his inputs especially in bowling is outstanding. This is what we expect from him and hopefully in the next game we get something even better.”

However, Hannan Sarkar, a member of the national selection panel, also told Cricbuzz that he was not surprised to see Shakib Al Hasan playing in this way despite being surrounded by controversy as well. Notably, on Monday (August 26) BCB will take a call on Shakib. If that is not possible, the BCB directors will get together on Thursday (August 29) to discuss several aspects as well.

“There was never any doubt regarding his bowling. You can never question his on field performance. Good and bad patches come, but that’s very little for him. He is not bothered by what’s happening outside when he is on the field. Not affected at all. He is a 100% professional. It’s not surprising to see him perform,” Sarkar said. “There were lots of talks regarding his preparation (as he was playing white-ball cricket ahead of the Test series) but what I feel is that he knows what kind of preparation he need and do it as per requirement.”