Sabbir loses central contract

Sabbir Rahman will not be included in the central contract pool as punishment for assaulting a young fan during a National Cricket League game in Rajshahi last month.

In addition, the right-handed batsman was banned from domestic cricket for six months and also slapped with a heavy fine of Tk 20 lakh. BCB president Nazmul Hassan announced the penalties levied on Sabbir after the disciplinary committees' hearing yesterday.

Sabbir received Tk 2 lakh per month in 2017 as a centrally contracted Grade B player.

"We have the disciplinary committee recommendations but so far we did not take the final decision. But the recommendations I received were not insubstantial. First of all, he will be dropped from the central contract of 2018 -- a contracted player gets a lot of money, there are only 14 of them. Along with that there was also a recommendation to fine him Tk 20 lakh cash as well as suspend him from domestic cricket for six months, which includes the Dhaka Premier League, so it's a huge financial loss. But yes, the committee has also recommended that this will be the last chance for the cricketer, which means they are even thinking of suspending him indefinitely," Hassan told the media at his corporate office in Dhanmondi on Monday.

The BCB boss added that the sanctions will not be reduced and may even increase depending on discussions during the next directors' board meeting. They will then be immediately implemented.

The incident took place on December 21 during the second day of Rajshahi Division's game against Dhaka Metropolis. The cricketer also allegedly misbehaved with the match referee after being summoned for investigation.

The 26-year-old cricketer's short career has been dotted with a number of disciplinary issues. Previously, he was fined Tk 12 lakh for a serious disciplinary breach during the fourth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

According to BCB disciplinary committee vice-chairman Sheikh Sohel, Sabbir did apologise for his actions during the hearing but penalties were handed to him nonetheless, keeping his history of indiscipline in mind.

TAMIM IQBAL

"We felt that he didn't learn anything from his past two punishments. So we opted for a heavy punishment this time. He [Sabbir] is out of the national contract, which is a huge blow. He is also fined Tk 20 lakh along with a ban from domestic cricket for six months. But this is his last chance so if he repeats these kinds of mistakes, he will be permanently suspended," Sohel said.

Meanwhile, Hassan informed that a Tk 5 lakh fine was proposed for Tamim Iqbal following the batsman's criticism of the Mirpur pitch and his comments over the outfield after his side, Comilla Victorians, took on Rangpur Riders in a BPL fixture. The left-hander is to receive an official warning from the board as well.

"He can comment on the pitch as it does not meet the T20 standard, which is fine, but why did he talk about the outfield? What was the problem in the outfield? And why would you talk about the curator? Already we have received two demerit points for the poor outfield from the ICC after the last game against Australia and if we receive four points then there will be no cricket in Dhaka. A captain can't speak like that and he needs to be more responsible," Hassan concluded.

Test and T20I captain Shakib Al Hasan and ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza were also present at Hassan's office yesterday but only to speak with the board president about the upcoming series.