The Bangladesh Cricket Board is all set to investigate the allegation of match-fixing in the National Cricket League final round match between Dhaka Metropolis and Rangpur Division, said BCB officials on Tuesday. Rangpur earned their maiden title in NCL, country’s traditional first-class tournament, after beating Metropolis by 102 runs at BKSP. Khulna were among the front-runners in the championships and could have won it had Rangpur failed to earn an outright win few minutes before the curtain was pulled down of the longer-version tournament at BKSP-2 on March 12.
However, match-fixing allegation continues to hunt the BCB, leaving the officials busy in trying to dig the truth after Khulna officials lodged a formal complaint on March 19, claiming that the match was fixed.
In support of their claim Khulna officials provided evidences to BCB’s tournament committee and disciplinary committee, which included a 35-minute recorded conversation between their officials and Dhaka Metro coach Hannan Sarkar.
Khulna believed that BCB would take immediate action in this regard as they maintained zero tolerance in previous cases related with match-fixing corruptions.
Khulna skipper Abdur Razzak said they are keeping their fingers crossed as BCB is determined to keep their reputation intact by formally opening the investigation procedure.
‘We are waiting to for the formal investigation,’ Khulna skipper Abdur Razzak told New Age on Tuesday.
‘We are confident that actual truth will be revealed in the course of time,’ said Razzak.
‘Because of the home series against Pakistan we were asked to wait but as the series is over now we hope that BCB will respond in appropriate manner against our allegations,’ said Razzak, who has been vocal from day one.
Rangpur sealed their championship after Mahmudul Hasan trapped Asif Hasan leg-before to end their anxious wait in the penultimate over with just four minutes left in the game after umpires had taken mandatory final hour.
That raised quite a few eyebrows because it helped Rangpur end their campaign on 121 points, a point above runner-up Khulna.
BCB’s tournament committee chairman Akram Khan said that they are on the final stage before forwarding the evidence to the disciplinary panel.
According to Khulna officials, Metropolis coach Hannan admitted to them that he and their batting coach Mehrab Hossain failed to control boys who were reluctant to perform according to their ability.
‘We will submit all acquired evidences to disciplinary committee in a short period,’ said Akram.
‘Later hearing procedure will be conducted by a disciplinary panel before they move on to the next course of action, if required,’ he said.
Akram said he also spoke to several players from both Metropolitan and Rangpur sides to get a clue on the match-fixing allegation.
Match-fixing allegations have been rocking Bangladesh cricket for the last two years since former national captain Mohammad Ashraful tearfully admitted his involvement on May 19, 2013.
Ashraful, along with four players and officials were banned for various periods after a tribunal set up jointly by the International Cricket Council and BCB found them guilty for their part in the scandal in Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament.
The BCB recently adopted its own ant-corruption guideline and appointed retired military officer Abu Mohammad Humayun Morshed as its Anti-corruption unit head.
However, it is not clear whether the issue will be referred to the Anti-Corruption Unit.
Morshed on Wednesday told New Age that as of now he was not asked to look into the matter by BCB officials.
‘At present I am aware of the allegation and can start investigation anytime, if asked.’ he said.
BCB’s disciplinary committee chairman Sheikh Sohel also confirmed that his panel won’t take long to start their investigation provided they receive the evidences from the tournament committee.
‘I have noticed that Akram [Khan] is dealing with it at the moment and working on gathering more information about it,’ said Sohel.
‘We can only tell something after going through it but you can be rest assured that no one will be spared if found guilty,’ he said.
-With New Age input
