Pro-Shakib and anti-Shakib groups clash outside Mirpur stadium

A clash broke out between pro-Shakib Al Hasan and anti-Shakib Al Hasan groups outside the Shere Bangla National Stadium on Sunday, the day before the first Test between Bangladesh and South Africa.

A group called “Shakibians” chanted slogans, demanding Shakib be reinstated in the Test squad, but was chased away by another group in the presence of security forces. All this while the South Africans were training inside the stadium. There were no injuries reported, but the Dhaka-based Prothom Alo said that security forces had detained one person.

Until this clash, the two sets of protesters – those who want Shakib to get a chance to play a farewell Test series and those who are politically opposed to Shakib, who was a member of the Awami League party whose government was overthrown in August – had carried out their protests separately.

Shakib had been picked in Bangladesh’s squad for the first Test against South Africa last Wednesday, but a day later, a group called Mirpur Chhatra Janata (a student body) sent the BCB a letter demanding his removal from the squad. Things moved quickly after that. Shakib told ESPNcricinfo on Thursday that he wouldn’t be traveling to Bangladesh for the game. The BCB withdrew him from the team the following day, with sports adviser Asif Bhuiyan confirming that he had told Shakib not to travel to Bangladesh because of security concerns.

Shakib’s fans gathered outside the Shere Bangla for the first time on Friday, demanding his reinstatement in the Test squad. They repeated the protests on Sunday, though this time they were barricaded by security forces.

Shakib, a globetrotting cricketer, lives primarily in New York City, and hasn’t been in Bangladesh since May this year. At the time of the anti-government protests, which led to the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina (Awami League) government, Shakib – a member of parliament from the party at the time – was in Canada taking part in Global T20 Canada. Prior to that, he was in the USA for Major League Cricket and, since then, he has played Test cricket in Pakistan and India apart from playing one game for Somerset in the County Championship.