BCB boss confirms curfew violation

The Bangladesh team have expectedly retreated into a shell after news broke on Monday that three players -- Taskin Ahmed, Nasir Hossain and Shafiul Islam -- had violated the curfew time of 10:00pm set by team management the previous night hours after their 200-run loss in the third and final ODI in East London. The team had a rest day yesterday, with a few members going for a gym session in the morning.

While Minhajul Abedin, team manager in South Africa, had issued a soft denial on Monday saying that the players had assured him of their timely return, Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan confirmed the violation of the curfew yesterday while submitting his nomination papers for the BCB elections.

"We will definitely investigate the matter and take appropriate action. Let us get the written report from the team management after the tour," Hassan said. "If it was a matter of one player we could have taken a drastic step but as there are three cricketers involved we need to take some time."

The three players visited a casino, presumably after having dinner.

"They returned at 10:34pm whereas everyone should go back to their room by 10:00 pm. It was a mistake and we will look after it but from what I learnt they did not gamble and only had some food at the place. They went to a nearby shopping mall where they met AB de Villiers and Rabada and later they went to the Casino along with them. There were some machines placed in that place to play games."

Papon also informed yesterday that the he will be present via teleconference during the team meeting in Bloemfontein, where Bangladesh will play the first T20I on Thursday. Meanwhile, Minhajul declined to comment on whether the curfew issue will be brought up as it was a team matter, despite saying the day before that he will personally take up the issue.