Mushfiqur’s ‘fever’ turns contentious after Sylhet win

Rangpur Riders were on the verge of making it through to the BPL final by thwarting Sylhet in the BPL's second qualifier on Tuesday. Seven wickets in hand and 46 runs required in five overs meant that the equation was in Rangpur's favour in chase of Sylhet's 182 but at the end of the day, they failed to manage those runs and Mushfiqur Rahim coming back into the game brought about a break in play which Rangpur felt were a deterrent to their momentum in the final three overs.

Rangpur coach Sohel Islam said that the discussions on the field after Mushfiqur came on were related to whether Mushfiqur could come on following absence due to fever and the discussion took some time.

Akbar Ali, the 12th man had kept wickets in Mushy's absence and in the 17th over Akbar left the field and Zakir Hasan took over wicket-keeping duties while Mushy became a regular fielder. Following the break, the last three overs of Rangpur innings produced just 13 runs which saw them go out of the tournament after a 19-run loss.

"I don't know if it was their tactics [to bring about a break in play]. Mushfiqur had batted in the first innings. I had asked the third-umpire why Mushfiqur was out of the field after the batting innings and I was informed that he had fever which is why he was outside. The thing is that in case of fever, will the other team take responsibility? Definitely not. In case there is an injury in the field then things will happen according to the rules. But if it's fever…actually that was being discussed when Mushfiqur came on and quite a bit of time passed. It wasn't one or two minutes but almost five to six minutes. We were in a good position and had flow. I feel that the flow being ruined was harmful for us," Sohel said at the press conference following the match.

Skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan was seen being angry at the dugouts with members of the team management. Asked on what happened, Sohel informed that Sohan was irritated at why the team management had not pushed the umpires to start proceedings sooner. Rangpur captain Sohan was not notified about reason for Mushfiqur's absence from the field, according to the Rangpur coach.

"Rony [Talukdar] and Sohan were asking [the umpire] about why Mushfiqur was outside. It wasn't clear to us. Someone was saying because he had a finger injury and someone else was saying he had fever. That created complication," Sohel said.

"Regarding why Mushfiqur was not behind the stumps, the third-umpire told me it was due to fever. Our captain was not aware of the decision but apparently they [Sylhet] talked to the match-referee and sorted it out," he added.

After Mushfiqur came on the field, Akbar left the field and Zakir then headed to the dressing room to put on wicket-keeping pads and gloves. "When he came on at such a time [during the match], it hindered our momentum. I don't know if his fever was gone, the umpires can inform about that," he concluded.