BPL hits a snag
Chittagong Vikings skipper Tamim Iqbal yesterday accused Sylhet Superstars owners of insulting his family prior to the start of their fixture as the BPL's second day descended into chaos.
Speaking to reporters after the match, which was delayed by an hour and ten minutes, the agitated left-hander said that he would request the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to take disciplinary action against that particular person.
"People need to respect national cricketers. People have money but that doesn't mean they have the right to treat a national cricketer like a beggar. We are here to play cricket; I haven't come here to hear swear words about my parents or my family. If they start treating us like beggars then maybe we should just stop playing the game,” Tamim said during the post-match press conference.
"I was very nice to that individual; I even called him 'sir'. He asked me to stand up and talk to him and I even did that. Then he uttered a really bad word about my family, which was very insulting and it came out of nowhere.
"These people may be rich but the fact remains that the franchisees in the IPL are a thousand times richer. I may not have played in the IPL, but I have seen how they treat their players," Tamim added.
Prior to the start of the game, Tamim was seen speaking to Azizul Islam -- father of the Sylhet Superstars owner Azimul Islam -- in front of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium's Grand Stand. To everyone's surprise, the discussion between the two ended with a visibly angry Tamim storming back to the dressing room.
However, Azimul denied the allegations and said that his father had no reason to insult Tamim or his family.
The events took place after Chittagong Vikings refused to play due to certain technical issues. The match witnessed a delayed start because two of the foreign players -- Joshua Cobb and Ravi Bopara -- that Sylhet wanted to include, did not have no-objection certificates [NOC] from their home-boards.
The BPL's technical committee decided to bend the rules to allow Sylhet Superstars to play the match with only two foreign players. However, according to the rules of the BPL, a team must field four foreign players every match.
As per the playing conditions, the BPL's technical committee has the right 'edit or delete' a rule if it feels necessary. And the convener of the technical committee, Jalal Yunus, later said that they changed the rule in order to prevent a walkover which could have 'tarnished the image' of the competition.
After the ruling, the two captains exchanged team lists and the toss took place at 1:55 pm. However as the match was about to begin, Sylhet fielded four foreign players including Bopara and Cobb.
Tamim and Tillakaratne Dilshan protested and walked off the field, ensuing a near hour-long discussion between the players, franchise officials and members of BPL's technical committee.
"They [Syhet] received their NOCs at 1:59pm, which was four minutes after the toss. So they wanted to include the two other players. However, the only way that a team can be changed after the toss is if the opposition captain agrees to it; and Chittagong didn't agree," said Yunus.
"What Sylhet did was not right. They couldn't have included players in the team without the opposition captain's permission," he added.
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