Tamim's suspension won't apply to BPL

The Chittagong Vikings are set to play their first Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match against the Barisal Bulls today afternoon at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Ahead of the game though, confusion surrounding the participation of Chittagong captain Tamim Iqbal arose yesterday.

In order to understand the reason behind the uncertainty, one has to revisit the Dhaka Premier League encounter between Abahani Limited and Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club, which took place on June 13 2016.

In an unusual occurrence, the umpires left the field in the second innings of the game leaving the match incomplete in the 17th over of the second innings. A stumping decision had gone against Abahani, when Saqlain Sajib thought he had sent Rakibul Hasan packing. However, when the batsman was ruled not out, the Abahani players were enraged.

A long discussion ensued between a visibly upset Tamim, Abahani's captain, and the umpires. An over later, the umpires decided that they would not continue officiating the match.

The official statement from the match referee was that both the umpires had suddenly fallen sick and could not continue officiating the game. As there was only one reserve umpire present at the venue, the match had to be stopped.

In order to address the issue, the BCB had formed a special committee to investigate the unfinished match. The committee members were Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) directors Nazmul Karim Tinku, Sheikh Sohel, BCB chief match referee ASM Roquibul Hasan and BCB technical committee member Athar Ali Khan.

On June 22 2016, after Abahani's last game of the league, the BCB released a press release stating the judgment of the committee. According to the press release, the committee decided to ban Tamim for one domestic match and also fine him one lakh taka.

The following were the exact words used in the press release: “For breaching the code of conduct for players during the match, Abahani Limited captain Tamim Iqbal Khan has been fined BDT one (01) lac and also suspended for one (01) domestic tournament match.”

Going by the statement issued by the BCB, Tamim should be suspended from the first BPL game since the BPL is a domestic match and this will be his first domestic game since the punishment.

However, member-secretary of the BPL's technical committee IH Mallick clarified the situation and said that the ban would only be applicable on a 50-over game.

“There shouldn't be any confusion here. He was banned because of an incident that took place in a 50-over match and so it won't affect his participation in the BPL. Besides, the BPL is a franchisee-based tournament so it's different.

“If there were any restrictions regarding Tamim's participation in the league, we would have clarified that before the players' draft, when the teams bought the players,” said Mallick.