The circus surrounding the way the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) handled the suspension episode of Mohammedan captain Towhid Hridoy gathered further wind on Friday.

In the end, according to a BCB press release on Friday, the enforcement of Hridoy's suspension was deferred over a 12-month period, as the DPL technical Committee nullified the memo from the umpires' committee which had revised the sanction table whereby seven demerit points equate to a one-match suspension. 

This reversal happened following protests from cricketers, only a day after Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis' (CCDM) technical committee convener and BCB director Nazmul Abedeen Fahim had informed the media that Hridoy was set to be suspended for Mohammedan's crucial Dhaka Premier League (DPL) Super League match against Gazi Group in Mirpur today.

On Friday morning, cricketers arrived at the Mirpur Academy Ground premises, and following talks between themselves, the players met with BCB president Faruque Ahmed. Hridoy's suspension, which was handed down due to his altercation with on-field umpires in a DPL game against Abahani earlier this month, was the biggest issue in that meeting, alongside other issues that Tamim Iqbal later mentioned in his press brief.

Cricketers claimed to have felt disrespected by the way Hridoy's suspension was reduced and then reinstated. However, disrespect of umpires was not mentioned in the press brief.

"After he [Hridoy] played two matches, we heard yesterday [Thursday] that he has been suspended again. I don't know which rule was followed in this case. We were concerned. It's very funny. How can you suspend a guy again after he had already served his suspension and was allowed to play two games by the BCB? How can you suspend him again?" Tamim said.

Tamim was right when he said what had already transpired in Hridoy's suspension saga, even before yesterday, had been "funny". And to make it even funnier, the latest episode saw Hridoy's suspension deferred to next season.

Hridoy had been handed four demerit points and suspended for a match for an altercation with the umpires during the match against Abahani. Later, the technical committee handed him another three demerit points for the comments he made in the media afterwards. Since it was a level 2 offence under the BCB Code of Conduct, he was to be suspended for two matches. But this is where the toxic culture of club cricket came into play as several departments were pressured into reducing Hridoy's suspension.

This led to the resignation of the then technical committee convener Enamul Haque Moni. Bangladesh's only umpire in the ICC Elite Panel, Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat, also made an ultimatum to quit domestic cricket over the way the issue was handled.

It is apparent that the umpiring committee or relevant structures of CCDM were not able to work according to their decorum.

While Mohammedan had initially stated that they received a letter from CCDM which confirmed that Hridoy's suspension was reduced, later they claimed the suspension was deferred.

However, CCDM chairman Mohammad Salahuddin later revealed they had sent no such letter either about the sentence being reduced or being deferred to next season.

It is clear that no proper process was followed in this entire saga. As it seems, the Hridoy fiasco ultimately happened because the BCB allowed it to happen.