The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) continues to generate discouraging headlines, with Shakib Al Hasan taking the lead in typical fashion. Most recently, Shakib violated regulations by entering the playing field during the contest between his team Fortune Barishal and Rangpur Riders, on Tuesday.
The BPL authority took a stern action this time, imposing a fine of 15% of their match fees on the players who were found to have breached the Code of Conduct.
Due to Shakib's transgression, the match was briefly halted while the on-field umpires spent some time attempting to persuade Shakib to return to the dugout.
The incident took place ahead of Barishal’s innings in reply to Rangpur’s first innings. Barishal’s opener Chaturanga de Silva, a left-handed batter, took the strike to open the batting for Rangpur as Rakibul Hasan, the left-arm spinner, was about to bowl.
But seeing Chaturanga taking the strike, Nurul Hasan, the Rangpur captain, changed the bowler bringing Mahidy Hasan, a right-handed spinner, assuming that a right-spinner could do well against a right-handed batter.
Read more: “If I were CEO of BPL, it’d take me 1 or 2 months to make necessary changes”: Shakib
But the Barishal openers, Chaturanga and Anamul Haque, decided to change their end, prompting Nurul to change the bowler again. And at this stage, Shakib entered the field and went to the umpires to clarify his point.
It was a clear violation of role— a batting team player cannot just enter the field whenever he wants without the approval of the umpires. At the conclusion of the match day, the BCB issued a punishment to Shakib and the other players involved in the incident.
A BCB release said: “Shakib and Nurul were both found in breach of Article 2.4 of the BCB Code of Conduct for Players, which refers to disobeying an umpire’s instruction during a match.”
It also read that: “Anamul, meanwhile, was penalized for a breach of Article 2.8 of the BCB Code of Conduct for Players for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision.”
BCB confirmed that in addition to the fines, one demerit point has been added to the disciplinary record of each player.
Read more: BCB has no answers to Shakib's truth bombs on BPL
It was just one instance of the many unfortunate incidents that occurred during the ongoing season of BPL, involving the country's best cricketer, Shakib.