Bangladesh offspinner Shohely Akhter has become the first female cricketer to be banned for corruption.
Akhter, who has played two ODIs and 13 T20Is, was found guilty of attempting to fix, offering a bribe and failing to disclose full details of an approach to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code , as well as obstructing the investigation.
She has been banned for five years from all cricket after she admitted breaching five provisions of the anti-corruption code.
The charges against her centre around an approach she made to a Bangladesh cricketer during the 2023 Women’s T20 World held in South Africa.
The investigation focused on Shohely’s conversation on Facebook Messenger with the cricketer on February 14, 2023. It was the day of the T20 World Cup match between Bangladesh and Australia. She made an offer of 2 million Bangladeshi Taka (USD 16,400 approx.) to the player to get out hit wicket during the match.
The player who was approached by Akhter reported the matter to the ACU immediately, providing all the voice notes from Shohely, who had deleted those files on her devices.
When interviewed by the ACU, Shohely confirmed that she did send the voice messages to the player but initially claimed that “she only did so in order to show her friend that members of the Bangladesh team were not involved in fixing, not because she was genuinely making a corrupt approach.
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