Mohammad Ashraful may have his cricketing career at risk after the Bangladesh Cricket Board suspended him indefinitely on charge of match-fixing, but his tearful confession
on television has earned him more of sympathy than hate.
Questions are also rife whether the cricket board made him a scapegoat in the scandal to save others involved in the affair.
The cricket board president, Nazmul Hasan, has already given his explanation saying that they would also bring the other accused, if found guilty in the investigation that is going on, to justice.
He said that they had suspended Ashraful because he has so far been the one to have confessed his guilt while the others are still trying to defend their causes.
But this has seemed to be a childish explanation to many cricket fans as the board has decided to bar Ashraful from cricketing at a time when some others accused in the scandal were yet to be questioned.
The name of Salim Chowdhury, the owner of Dhaka Gladiators, has come up time and again on the media for forcing Ashraful to lose the matches but nobody has seen him facing any question from the ICC’s Anti Corruption and Security Unity.
The franchisee is still the official champions of BPL 2 although the captain for two matches has been suspended after he admitted to losing the matches deliberately.
It is obvious that Ashraful acted at the instruction of some one and was helped by some other players to carry out the instructions. But the board has not barred other parties from playing cricket or participating in cricketing activities.
Former captain Faruque Ahmed felt that Ashraful was the only one who could be punished and he felt sorry for the player, someone who he said could not be produced overnight.
‘There is no doubt that he is the one to be punished and I feel sorry for that,’ Faruque told New Age on Wednesday. ‘It is obvious that someone else has provoked him for the wrong practice and I think the the board should punish them as well.’
‘Their punishment should be severer as they put the country’s cricket in a crisis. You can get a franchisee owner from anywhere but cannot get an Ashraful overnight,’ he said.
‘Human minds are very complex. If someone always sends out a certain signal to an individual, he can easily fall into the trap. I think that this is what happened to Ashraful. And this is why the board should be tough against instigators.’
Cricket fans said that when Ashraful had given the nation many joyous moments and blown the whistle to bring the dark side of the Bangladesh cricket into light, his franchisee owners have brought only shame for the country.
‘I think that the board can still be lenient to Ashraful. He at least has given an honest confession. But the men who provoked him has neither confessed nor made any contribution to our cricket in the past,’ Hasan Imam, a university student, said.
‘They came here to make quick money and they did it at the expense of our cricketing talent. So they should not be spared,’ he added.
Shaila, another university student, said that law enforcers should take the matter in their hand immediately.
‘We saw the son-in-law of the Indian cricket board president to be arrested by the police for his involvement in match-fixing. I hope that our Dhaka owners are not more powerful than he,’ she said.
‘India did it without any specific law against match-fixing. So it cannot be an excuse in our country,’ she added.
-With New Age input
