BCB wont tolerate players any social-media stooshie
Sports Reporter
The national players way to deal with the matter in the social media and public sphere and tendency to involve them all kind of unwanted incidents made Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) worried to such extent that they are all set to carry out a massive investigation and take stern punishment against them.
In the past, BCB had punished some players including big star like Shakib Al Hasan but still the incident happened again and again, leaving the board in a state bewilderment, said BCB directors and top officials.
The latest incident that took the board by storm was the allegation on batsman Sabbir Rahman, who has still been serving a punishment for physically assaulting a child during a first-class game in December, 2017. Sabbir Rahman this time was alleged to have abused and threatened fans on social media, an incident that is said to have occurred after Bangladeshs second ODI against West Indies in Guyana on Wednesday.
Some days ago, some comments on the videos, involving national discard Nasir Hossain went viral which was discussed at BCB headquarters but ignored.
BCB director Jalal Younus said the time has come for the board to deal with the off-field disciplinary issues, especially on social media, with an iron hand.
It has come to our notice that few players are getting involved in issues on social media and at times are crossing the line. The board does not want to interfere in ones personal issue but it does not remain personal once it gets reported to the media. I think a few of the players are not being able or they do not know how to maintain themselves and their image, Younus told the reporters.
They are unaware of their limits and it has now started hampering the image of Bangladesh cricket. Few days back there was another cricketer who was involved in a massive issue in social media. A series of videos had gone viral of that incident. These incidents damage the image of a cricketer and the board and are setting bad examples for future cricketers of the country. It is very unfortunate and I think the time has come that the board deals with these issues with an iron hand and makes the cricketers careful on social media platforms, the BCB director added.
Another director Ismail Haider Mallick also was in support to take punitive action, saying that those incident tarnished the image of the BCB.
If found guilty, nobody will be spared. This sort of incident tarnished the BCBs image. Those players are the brand ambassador of the country. So they should be in their limits, he said.
Allegation on Sabbir was quite frustrating for BCB, specially when he is still serving a ban.
Sabbir has made headlines for wrong reasons on quite a few occasions since making his international debut in 2014. In 2016, he was penalised 30 percent of his BPL contract money (TK 12 Lakh) for a serious disciplinary breach - entertaining a female guest at the team hotel.
In the just concluded BPL, he was penalised half of his match fees and awarded three demerit points for misbehaving with an on-field umpire during his team Sylhet Sixers second match against Comilla Victorians.
