New Delhi, India

Veteran Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, for the first time, opened up regarding approaches from bookies that led to his suspension by the International Cricket Council (ICC) last year. Shakib said that he took approaches casually while revealing the anti-corruption officer knew everything about the revelations.

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Shakib further said he got just a one-year ban as he helped in the investigation while adding he could have banned for five or 10 years if he hadn’t helped them.

"I took the approaches too casually. When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything," Shakib was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

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"Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened... To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise, I'd have been banned for five or 10 years."

Shakib was suspended for failing to report corrupt approaches as the all-rounder said he regrets the “silly mistakes”. He said he shouldn’t have made this decision to not report the approaches. 

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"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the number of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision (to not report), to be honest," Shakib said.

"I regret that. And I think no one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away... We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learned, and I think I learned a big lesson."

Meanwhile, Shakib Al Hasan's ban ends on October 29 this year.