The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), on Tuesday (May 2), imposed a 10-year ban on the bowler who deliberately lost a match by conceding 92 runs off just four legal deliveries in a unique protest at umpiring decisions.
Sujon Mahmud, Lamatia Club’s opening bowler, had delivered an incredible 15 no-balls and 13 wides – each of which went to the boundary to concede 65 runs to help his team deliberately lose their Dhaka Second Division League match against Axiom. His four legal deliveries were hit for 12 runs. The 32-ball oversaw Axiom complete a 10-wicket win in just 0.4 overs, having racked up 92.
The bowler and the team must have done the inexplicable act as a protest against the umpiring standards but their conduct has not gone down well with the country’s cricket board as both the player as well as the club faced punishment.
The bowler has been banned from the game after the BCB found him guilty of bringing the game into disrepute while the club was barred indefinitely from competition, with their coach, captain and manager punished with five-year bans from the Dhaka Second Division League.
In the 50-over game last month, Lalmatia Club were bowled out for just 88 off 14 overs before opponents Axiom Cricketers reached 92-0 off four legal balls.
The BCB, meanwhile, also imposed a ten-year ban on another bowler, Tasnim Hasan, and blacklisted his club Fear Fighters after they threw a separate match in similar fashion. The Fear Fighters had also voluntarily conceded 69 runs in 1.1 overs against Indira Road Krira Chakra in protest of alleged biased umpiring.
The cricket board has also handed six-month suspensions to the umpires overseeing both the discredited matches.
“We have found in our investigations that the bowlers bowled wides and no-balls deliberately to damage the image of our cricket,” the board’s disciplinary committee chief Sheikh Sohel told a press briefing on Tuesday.
“In neither case, would a win or loss have mattered for the promotion or relegation of their respective clubs,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lalmatia Club secretary Adnan Rahman had admitted Sujon bowled the wides and no-balls as a protest against poor umpiring. But at the same time, he had alleged the umpires did not even allow his team captain to see the coin after the toss.