Bangladesh batsman Mohammad Ashraful, who was handed a five-year ban for his involvement in match-fixing and spot-fixing during Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2013, has expressed hope of making a comeback.
The 34-year-old, whose punishment for the offence will end on August 13, said that he has been waiting for the day for quite long and asserted that making a comeback for his national side would be a great achievement for him.
"I have been waiting for August 13, 2018, for a long time now. It has been more than five years since the day I admitted my involvement. Although I have played domestic cricket in the last two seasons, there is now nothing preventing me from being eligible for national selection," ESPNcricinfo.com quoted Ashraful, as saying.
"Playing for Bangladesh again will be my greatest achievement," he added.
In May 2013, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had initiated an investigation in the spot-fixing and match-fixing charges that were levied against the batsman, following which he was indefinitely suspended from the team.
Later, Ashraful admitted to fixing charges and subsequently, he was handed over a ban of eight years by anti-corruption tribunal of BPL. The ban was later revised to five years following an appeal against the suspension by the batsman.
Reflecting on his future cricket plans, the right-hand batsman said that he has already gone through a month-long training and would now join the pre-season training ahead of the upcoming National Cricket League later in the year.
Ashraful has played a total of 178 one day matches for Bangladesh and made 3468 runs with an average of 22.09, while in Tests he has scored 2737 runs with an average of 24.01 in 61 games.
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