De Villiers inspired me to bat at three - Shakib

Banned all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has said that the biggest challenge post his return will be to start from where he left off in international cricket. Shakib, who has been subdued since receiving the one-year ban from the ICC for failing to report a corrupt approach by a bookie, termed the incident as nothing but ignorance.

The all-rounder is currently staying in America at his father-in-law's place and will be able to make a comeback to competitive cricket after completing the one-year ban on October 29 this year.

"I have realized that there are certain things that you just cannot take lightly due to ignorance and probably that is the biggest lesson I learnt during this time," Shakib was quoted in DW Bangla following a live program on Monday (May 11).

"It is very difficult time for me because at the back of the mind you always think that I am not playing or not being able to play. The good thing is that I was able to stay with my wife during the birth of our second child. I could not do that when my first daughter was born and I am trying to be with them in the lockdown. For me making sure that I am not depressed is extremely important as I am locked down in my house." he said while adding he isn't thinking about regaining captaincy once the ban is over.

"First of all, I want to return to the game. I will return to the game after 4-5 months. No other decision (will be taken) before that. The biggest challenge is to be able to start again from where I had stopped, that is what I'm expecting from myself. Wish I can start from where I ended up. That is the challenge for me, nothing else.

The 33-year-old added that South African great AB de Villiers inspired him to bat at number three in the World Cup adding that it was a difficult decision considering everyone was against it.

Shakib was in superlative form with the bat throughout the tournament scoring 606 runs to etch his name alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Mathew Hayden and Rohit Sharma, as the only players to have scored over 600 runs in a single edition of the tournament. He also picked up 11 wickets along with his two centuries and five half-centuries in the eight matches that he played in.