ICC slaps 5-year ban on Bangladesh woman cricketer for match-fixing attempt

Dhaka, 11 Feb —The International Cricket Council (ICC) banned Bangladesh woman cricketer Shohaly Akhter for years from any cricket-related activities for her involvement in match-fixing attempt.

The ICC confirmed the development in a statement on Tuesday.

The ban stems from an incident where Shohaly attempted to fix matches during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 in South Africa.

ICC said that Shohaly violated five articles of the anti-corruption code, which includes attempts to influence match outcomes, offering bribes to teammates to fix matches, luring other players to break codes, and failing to report corrupt approaches to the authorities.

Shohaly was not part of the Bangladesh squad in the World Cup, in which she approached her teammates to fix matches. Her teammate reported the incident to the authorities which prompted an investigation.

Shohaly initially denied the allegations but later admitted her guilt, prompting the ICC to issue a five-year ban, effective February 10, 2025.

During the five-year period from February 10, 2025, she won’t be allowed to participate in any cricket-related activities.

Shohaly was among the first female cricketers contracted by the Bangladesh Cricket Board in 2009. She played her first international match in 2013, but since then, she has been out of the Bangladesh squad for a long time. But she made a comeback in 2022 before being overlooked again.