Country’s cricket fans were jolted with another match-fixing bombshell on Saturday when a private television channel aired a scroll claiming Dhaka Gladiators owner Salim Chowdhury to have implicated former national skipper Habibul Bashar in the scandal.
The news spread very quickly to make the life of Bashar, who is currently a national selector, miserable as he received hundreds of phone calls from his well-wishers who were still rubbing their eyes in utter disbelief.
A shell-shocked Bashar was lost for words and it took a while for him to get back into reality.
‘I was never prepared for anything like this,’ Bashar told New Age over phone in a choked voice. ‘I played cricket with dignity and never indulged in any corrupt practice,’ said Bashar, who acted as an adviser of Gladiators in the first edition of the BPL before relinquishing the post because of his obligation to the BCB.
Salim, who has already become a controversial figure in the country’s cricket circle, however, was quick to deny his statement and told another television channel live that he had never embroiled anyone in the matter.
‘ACSU had asked me about some people including Suman [Bashar]. I said they are all good people,’ said Salim, who was interrogated by the ICC officials in Dubai recently.
-With New Age input
