In a fresh happening in cricket, Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), franchise Barisal Bulls’ co-owner Abdul Awal Chowdhury has alleged that its national Test team skipper and last year’s Bulls captain Mushfiqur Rahim, has termed Barisal as ‘Beggars’ while revealing it to the local media. (Read Here: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza Is a Guardian Of Bangladesh Cricket: Mushfiqur Rahim).
However, it has been not cleared whether Rahim would be grilled for the allegations levied on him, but Chowdhury revealed Rahim made an insulting comment while terming the outfit as “Fokirni’ in Bangla (referred as beggars in English) when Bulls’ were opting for the photo session.
In what could be termed as a bizarre and irresponsible explainer, Chowdhury claimed to be as an owner of the domestic team, he holds reservations for Rahim over the alleged vitriol expressed by former for latter’s team recently.
“As the owner of the franchise, I didn’t like what he had to say. That’s the sole reason why I called him irresponsible in that interview,” Chowdhury was quoted as saying by bdcrictime after speaking to banglanews24, a local news channel in Bangladesh.
The controversy has grabbed the headlines in Bangladesh, before Chowdhury was dispatched a show-cause notice by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) after he labelled Rahim as a rash cricketer while adding he is a poor skipper.
Adding further to the accusation, Chowdhury expressed dissatisfaction, as he revealed the other senior officials were also taking part in the facilitated session held by the officials of the Bulls.
Chowdhury, who further revealed he termed Rahim ‘bad’ only being as a franchise possessor.
“I said that not as a director of BCB, but as a franchise owner,” Chowdhury added.
The co-owner of the Bulls reiterated that he has invested the hefty amount to be the part of the administration of the team while stating he has a right to express.
“I have invested crores of money for the franchise, so I think I have the rights to say so,” Chowdhury remarked.
Interestingly, the controversy has taken to a centre stage in Bangladesh cricket, as Chowdhury was asked to file the response on what basis the later has alleged the skipper as ‘irresponsible’ and ‘bad skipper’ in his latest briefing.
Being somewhat unethical in his statement, Chowdhury could find himself in trouble if Rahim would be cleared by the administrators.
However, the reports suggested it could be personal enmity which can’t be ruled out as per the developments are taking place.
In this regard, the Governing Council Member of BPL Sheikh Sohail has refuted the claim of Chowdhury while saying the board didn’t get any report against Rahim.
The 30-year-old Bogra-born Rahim has played 176 One-day Internationals, 59 Twenty20 Internationals and 54 Tests for Bangladesh. He has registered 4,398 runs in ODIs, 3,265 in Tests and 726 in T20Is.