Controversy struck again when Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club and Brothers Union met to play for a spot in the Super League of the Dhaka Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday, with Brothers protesting Jamal’s inclusion of Abdur Razzak.
The earlier Brothers-Jamal match result – a six-wicket Brothers victory on November 9 that would have seen Brothers through to the Super League, with Jamal left out – was vacated when Jamal claimed that Brothers fielded a suspended Sohrawardi Shuvo against them.
The Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis arranged a re-match between the two sides, but controversy hit again when Brothers appealed to be awarded the points despite losing because Sheikh Jamal fielded an injured player, risking his career.
Brothers complained that the Bangladesh Cricket Board asked Dhaka Premier League clubs not to consider five national players – Sakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam and Razzak – for team selection for varying time frames as they were all carrying injuries.
Razzak was asked not to play cricket till November 20 as he was still battling the back stiffness he sustained during the one-day series against New Zealand.
Instead he helped Jamal change their fortune against Brothers and earn a Super League berth by leading them to a comfortable 70-run victory in the rematch with a man-of-the-match performance.
Razzak played a cameo innings at number nine, scoring an unbeaten 18-ball 39 to help Jamal post 282-7, and later played a crucial role in dismissing Brothers for 212 in 45.2 overs with bowling figures of 3-32.
Razzak said that Brothers is making a mountain out of a mole hill regarding his fitness, as he opted to play only after making sure that he had recovered enough to handle the load of playing a 50-over match.
‘They don’t have any right to talk about my injury,’ a furious Razzak told media at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.
‘My physio and cricket board, along with me, should be concerned about my injury, but I don’t know why they are so curious about it,’ he said.
I played because I am supposed to play whenever I become fit. I am the best person to judge the gravity of my injury and I played because I am fit.’
‘I have communicated my condition to our physio and decided to play thereafter, but still it surprised me to learn that they are making this into a issue as I am not a suspended player,’ he said.
The angry reply from Razzak came minutes after Brothers manager Amin Khan told the media that they had demanded full points for this match as Jamal had defied the BCB’s request while they had followed through by resting Tamim Iqbal.
Tamim incurred an abdominal injury in the second ODI that later ruled him out of the series and was asked to rest for at least four weeks.
‘We have demanded full points as they did not bother to give any importance to the BCB request that we complied with fully,’ said Amin.
‘We had given a written complaint to the match referee Roqibul Hasan,’ he added.
However, Roqibul did not feel that this issue had any bearing on the match result as the case was entirely between Razzak and the BCB as he is contracted player and needs to go by their decision.
‘I received their complaint during the match and sent it to the umpires committee to inform it to the cricket operation,’ said Roqibul.
‘But this complaint hardly have any bearing on this match,’ he added.
Meanwhile, BCB chief medical officer Debashish Chowdhury said that with this kind of injury the player is the best person to judge his own fitness.
‘It is right that he was asked to take rest till November 20 but he can always recover early and take part in competitive cricket,’ said Debashish.
-With New Age input
