The historic battle between archrivals Abahani and Mohammedan SC may have faded over the years but Shakib Al Hasan certainly felt the heat of the rivalry and took it to new heights, or depths based on how you look at it, during a Dhaka Premier League T20 encounter yesterday.
What Shakib did at the home of cricket in Mirpur yesterday has hardly ever been seen on a cricket field in any top-level game and it coming from an an experienced player like him was even more shocking.
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Shakib, who is captain of Mohammedan, lost his temper not once, but twice. First, he kicked the stumps over when umpire Imran Parvez refused a leg-before appeal against Abahani skipper Mushfiqur Rahim in the fifth over. In the very next over, Shakib uprooted the stumps with his hands while fuming at the umpire after the umpire called for the covers to be brought out due to rain before the final ball of the sixth over.
The players went off after rain halted proceedings with Abahani at 31 for three in 5.5 overs in chase of 146 runs, but Shakib escalated things once again by making indecent gesture towards the Abahani dressing room.
That caused Abahani coach and Bangladesh Cricket Board director Khaled Mahmud to become enraged and engage in a war of words before Mohammedan batsman Shamsur Rahman pacified Mahmud and separated him from the situation.
However, after the incident, it was learned that the star cricketer went to the Abahani dressing room and offered apologies.
Although there was no immediate reaction from match officials, the chairman of the Committee of Dhaka Metropolis informed that such incidents happen on the cricket field.
“A lot of things happen on the cricket field. As it was a Mohammedan-Abahani encounter, we saw a lot of excitement on the field and we saw an incident involving Shakib Al Hasan. You have also witnessed what happened as it was telecast live on Facebook and YouTube and it is unfortunate. We know that the players might get heated in some situations but we always feel the players should keep their emotions under control,” CCDM chairman Kazi Inam Ahmed said.
“However, like any international game, we have a designated department. The match referee and the umpires are expected to give a report by tonight (Friday night). On that basis we will act accordingly.”
According to former Bangladesh captain and international match referee Raqibul Hasan, such offenses can lead to suspensions and financial penalties, or both.
“If such incident took place on a cricket field, it is a breach of minimum level-2 offence. In such cases, the match referee would take the on-field umpire’s report and on that basis a decision can be taken,” said Raqibul.
Interestingly, Shakib was involved in the breach of the bio-secure bubble during a Mohammedan practice session just two days back.
The BCB and CCDM held a hearing with a strange outcome. Despite the affirmation of a breach and Mohammedan officials admitting to being aware of it, there were no fines or suspensions meted out.
According to many, Shakib’s outburst yesterday was related to biased umpiring decisions, questions about which have been raised in domestic cricket over the years.
Many also indicated that the reason for the umpire to call off the play just a ball before the sixth over was to favor Abahani in the calculation of the D/L method considering the result of the game. But Mohammedan were already ahead in terms of the D/L method after the fifth over. They eventually won the game by 31 runs.
