Bangladesh batsman Sabbir Rahman faces possible punishment after he reportedly assaulted a fan during a first-class match in Rajshahi last week. The incident is said to have taken place on the second day of Rajshahi Division’s National Cricket League game against Dhaka Metropolis.
According to reports, after a supporter made a noise directed at Sabbir during one of the innings breaks, Sabbir took permission from the on-field umpires to leave the ground and then went behind the sight screen to physically abuse the young boy, who had apparently been brought into the playing area by an acquaintance of Sabbir’s.
The incident was supposedly first seen by the reserve umpire who reported it to the match referee, who in turn reported it to the BCB’s cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan, who then forwarded it to the board’s disciplinary committee. This was as per procedure, since Sabbir is being investigated for a level-4 offence. According to sources, Sabbir was also quite “aggressive” with match referee Showkatur Rahman, when he called him in on the third day of the game to investigate the incident.
Sheikh Sohel, vice-chairman of the disciplinary committee, said that Sabbir would be subjected to heavy punishment if found guilty. In the case of level-4 offences, penalties include multiple-match bans in addition to a fine of Tk 5 lakh (US$6,000 approx).
Sohel told the Prothom Alo newspaper: “The moment I get the report, we will call him. But after seeing the report if we feel we don’t need to talk to him, we will quickly mete out the punishment.”
Sabbir has faced disciplinary action a number of times in the past, the most severe case of which was in 2016 when the BCB fined him Tk 12 lakh (US$14,000 approx) for “serious off-field disciplinary breaches” during the Bangladesh Premier League.
