All-rounder Shakib al Hasan has apologized for hurting the sentiments of his supporters with a series of recent activities which made the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Shakib took to his social media accounts to deliver his apology Monday evening.
Former Bangladesh captain Shakib found himself under heavy criticism following his short visit to India last week.
The series of incidents started for the Bangladesh cricket star when he was alleged to have behaved rudely with a fan at Benapole immigration.
Shakib while crossing the Benapole immigration was seen being requested for a photo by a fan.
It has been alleged that an irritated Shakib snatched the phone, slammed it to the floor and broke it.
“I do not understand how I will benefit by breaking someone’s phone. I think you [the supporters] will be able to answer this better than me. I never broke the phone intentionally. Due to the Covid-19 situation I was trying to maintain social distancing [while crossing the immigration],” said Shakib in a video.
“The area was packed and everyone was trying to take a photo with me. But I tried to complete the formalities there by maintaining distance from the public. A person there insisted of coming close to me for a photo and when I tried to push him away his phone dropped to the floor. I am extremely sorry for breaking his phone but I think he should have also been a bit careful,” the 33-year old added.
Shakib found himself in bigger trouble in the latter part of the tour after it was revealed that the all-rounder paid a visit to Kolkata’s Kakurgachi to attend the inaugural ceremony of a Kali Puja mandap.
This did not go down well with his Muslim followers and ignited a movement against the cricketer on social media.
It is understood that Shakib’s official facebook fan page had lost about a million followers within a couple of days.
Such was the grief among the followers that one Mohsin Talukdar from Talukdarpara area in Shahpur under Sylhet Sadar upazila Monday threatened to kill Shakib through a live video on facebook.
“The second issue I want to speak about is sensitive. I want to start by saying I am a proud Muslim and try to practice religion properly. There will be mistakes and that is part of life. I apologize if I have made a mistake and apologize if I have hurt your sentiment,” said Shakib.
Shakib in the seven-minute long video explained that he had travelled to Kolkata not for inaugurating the puja mandap but for a felicitation program on behalf of the authority of that area.
Shakib further claimed that media reports of him inaugurating the puja mandop are untrue.
