'Won't let the BPL get a bad image'

IH MALLICK

The last three days have been difficult for the Bangladesh Premier League's (BPL's) governing council as they have had a lot on their plate.

For starters, they had to provisionally suspend Rangpur Riders player Jupiter Ghosh and manager Sanwar Hossain, after Jupiter alleged that Sanwar had approached him to fix games.

The situation became slightly worse when famous singer Asif Akbar, also the brand ambassador for the Barisal Bulls, alleged that certain international and national players from his own team were involved in match-fixing.

The statement, which was made through his Facebook account, was heavily criticised by Bulls skipper Mushfiqur Rahim on Tuesday. An angry skipper went to the extent of describing Asif as 'mad' during a press conference.

In addition to all this commotion, the governing council has had to fine Sabbir Rahman and Al-Amin Hossain for being involved in undisciplined activities off the field. The national players were fined 30 and 50 per cent of their BPL contract fees respectively.

In a bid to speak in detail about all these activities, the BPL governing council's member-secretary, IH Mallick, spoke to reporters yesterday.

While the press conference went on for around 20 minutes, Mallick's main intent was clear. “No matter what happens, we won't let the BPL get a bad image,” he exclaimed.

“Our Bangladesh Cricket Board [BCB] president made one thing very clear. When a player or anybody else breaks a rule, he will be punished. Through our officials in the team hotels, we came to know that Sabbir and Al-Amin had gotten involved in undisciplined activities and we immediately took action.

“Through this, we want to give a message to all the players taking part in the BPL, especially the younger ones, that we take these breaches of the code of conduct very seriously. Sabbir and Al-Amin may not have been involved in very serious matters, but it was still a breach of the code of conduct and we took action,” he added.

When questioned if the BPL's 'party culture' was the main reason behind these undisciplined activities off the field and whether these parties should be restricted, he said: “Look parties are a part of T20 cricket. The matches here are over by 10:00 [pm] and once you go to the hotel, you need to celebrate. You celebrate either a win or you celebrate to brighten the players' moods. I don't have anything against parties, but yes, they shouldn't spoil the discipline or breach the code of conduct. The BCB is a guardian of the players and it will always continue to be.”