Sabbir banned for six months
Photo - BCB
|| CF Correspondent ||
The Bangladesh Cricket Board disciplinary committee on Saturday recommended a six-month ban from international cricket for Sabbir Rahman because of his repeated off-field issues. It is now a matter of time before the ban takes effect following the board's approval.
Sabbir and Mossadek Hossain attended a hearing conducted by the disciplinary committee of BCB as they were summoned by the board after number of allegations came against the former, while the latter was called to clear his stance on the allegation made by his wife.
Mosaddek Hossain was spared any punishment for the time being as the allegation of demanding Tk 10 lakh as dowry from his wife is now still under investigation. His wife filed a lawsuit against him earlier.
“We recommended six month ban from international cricket and it might be implemented from tomorrow,” BCB director Ismail Haider told reporters after the hearing.
“He is yet to play domestic cricket for his earlier ban that is expected to end this September.
“But today we had taken this decision for his Facebook post. Though he said that it was hacked and we don’t have the mechanism to verify that,” he added.
Ismail confirmed that they have warned Sabbir saying that he can be handed a lengthy ban if he continues to conduct himself in this manner.
Sabbir was charged for a number of issues like physically assaulting a fan during a National Cricket League match in Rajshahi, using abusive words while replying to a Facebook post of a fan and getting involved in physical altercation with teammate Mehidy Hasan during the Afghanistan series.
The hard-hitting batsman earlier served a six-month ban in domestic circuit and was fined Tk 20 lakh. He was also denied a national contract. In 2016, he was fined 30 per cent of his BPL contract money for taking a female guest into his hotel room.
“Earlier his punishment was fine and getting banned from domestic cricket,” said Ismail.
“Now he is banned from international cricket but we have warned him that if he continue in this manner he will be handed with a lengthy ban.
“He has repented for his action.
“According to our finding he had lost around 1.5 crore Taka due to his earlier punishment. Some rectify [themselves] and some don’t.
“Probably he has lacking in guidance while there is a possibility that he is mixing with wrong people,” he added.
The incident is said to have occurred during the ODI series between Bangladesh and hosts West Indies in July. Earlier, the fan at the receiving end of Sabbir's ire said, on condition of anonymity, that it was shocking for an international player to issue a physical assault threat.
“It was simply shocking,” the victim told Cricbuzz. “I just expressed my feeling on my post and one of junior tagged it to him and we received a similar reply.
“I would not have taken it seriously but as there was a threat of physical assault I got scared and shared it,” said the MBA student of Dhaka University.
The said account, ‘Sabbir Rahaman Roman’ (the name also used in BCB's official emails to the players and media), was deactivated since the incident got reported to BCB. It had more than 90,000 followers and is believed to be Sabbir's personal account
